5 8 floral conversatlon. 
Three hours alter the Viscount had read his note, all the 
visitors had left the castle : and in it and around “ gnm 
silence held her solitary reign.” The only person who 
passed through our entrance gates with a cheerful counte¬ 
nance (my wife informed me) was my Lord Evelyn. He 
was just as beaming with mirth and kindness as ever. 
“ Sad business,” he said, “ Mrs. Oldacre ; bad business- 
disgraceful business,” with a broad grin on his face. And 
then he began to sing something (Mrs. O. continued) about 
a way they had in the army, or words to that effect. 
Yes, they all fled from that stern and stricken duke, as 
though they were seized with a sudden fear that he was 
going to bark and bite them. True indeed it was that 
then, and for many after days, his , grace was not good 
company. He was seen only by those who waited upon 
him, and their report of his melancholy was very pitiful. 
What think you happened next ? 
“ My friends,” said the good old gardener, with tears in 
his kind blue eyes, “ it pleased God in his goodness, by 
that great humiliation to change, and, as I believe, to save 
one of His creatures. Some three weeks after the crisis, 
the duke left the castle for the first time, and went to the 
mausoleum. He remained there so long that some of the 
household were beginning to be alarmed, when he came 
