Isn't that the clock striking again? Near about bedtime, I should say. Wish you good night."There are our characters--drawn on the principle of justice without mercy, by an impudent rascal who is the best valet in England. Now you know what sort of persons we are; and now we may go on again.
Rothsay and I parted, soon after our night at the theater. He went to Civita Vecchia to join a friend's yacht, waiting for him in the harbor. I turned homeward, traveling at a leisurely rate through the Tyrol and Germany.
After my arrival in England, certain events in my life occurred which did not appear to have any connection at the time. They led, nevertheless, to consequences which seriously altered the relations of happy past years between Rothsay and myself.
The first event took place on my return to my house in London. Ifound among the letters waiting for me an invitation from Lord Lepel to spend a few weeks with him at his country seat in Sussex.