claims he professed himself to be as ignorant as the office
messenger. The offers were of course made in the usual form, as
though coming direct from the Queen, through the Prime Minister;
--but the selections were in truth effected by the old Duke in
council with--an illustrious personage. The matter affected our
Duke,--only in so far as he could get out of his mind that
strange application from his own wife. 'That she should have
even dreamed of it!' he would say to himself, not yet having
acquired sufficient experience of his fellow creatures to be
aware how wonderfully temptations will affect even those who
appear to be least subject to them. The town horse, used to
gaudy trappings, no doubt despises the work of his country
brother; but yet, now and again, there comes upon him a sudden
desire to plough. The desire for ploughing had come upon the
Duchess, but the Duke could not understand it.

He perceived, however, in spite of the multiplicity of his
official work, that his refusal sat heavily on his wife's breast,
and that, though she spoke no further word, she brooded over her
injury. And his heart was sad within him when he thought he had
vexed her,--loving her as he did with all his heart, but with a
heart that was never demonstrative. When she was unhappy he was
miserable, though he would hardly know the cause of his misery.
Her ridicule and raillery he could bear, though they stung him;
but her sorrow, if ever she were sorrowful, or her sullenness, if
ever she were sullen, upset him altogether. He was in truth so
soft of heart that he could not bear the discomfort of the one
person in the world who seemed to him to be near to him. He had
expressly asked her for her sympathy for the business he had on
hand,--thereby going much beyond his usual coldness of manner.