visited, in a manner, with the disgrace of an excommunication.

Being, however, a sensible man, he bore it for a while patiently,
may be hoping that the suspicion would wear away; but my lord, with
all his retinue, coming from London to the castle for the summer,
invited the officers one day to dine with him and the countess, when
the fact was established by a very simple accident.

Captain Armour, in going up the stairs, and along the crooked old
passages of the castle, happened to notice that the colonel, who was
in the van, turned to the wrong hand, and called to him to take the
other way, which circumstance convinced all present that he was
domestically familiar with the labyrinths of the building; and the
consequence was, that, during dinner, not one of the officers spoke
to him, some from embarrassment and others from pride.

The earl perceiving their demeanour, enquired of the colonel, when
they had returned from the table to the drawing-room, as to the
cause of such a visible alienation, and Colonel Cavendish, who was
much of the gentleman, explaining it, expressing his grief that so
unpleasant a discovery had been made to the prejudice of so worthy a
man, my lord was observed to stand some time in a thoughtful
posture, after which he went and spoke in a whisper to the countess,
who advised him, as her ladyship in the sequel told me herself, to
send for me, as a wary and prudent man. Accordingly a servant was
secretly dispatched express to the town on that errand; my lord and
my lady insisting on the officers staying to spend the evening with
them, which was an unusual civility at the PRO FORMA dinners at the
castle.