other things," he told his mother, "I am the most unlucky dog that ever lived."

He set to work again, nevertheless, this time at mechanics, and appears to have put the idea of a present return to Ireland out of his head. He had, indeed, started another scheme, concerning which he was, as usual, anxious to have his mother's opinion. He was, like some other people, very wise on paper.

Goodwood was full of temptations to idleness; Stoke, another uncle's house, even more alluring, and "je suis foible." What would the Duchess think of his going for four months, till the meeting of Parliament in January, to study at a Scotch university, where he would be able to give his whole mind to work? It was a scheme which offered many advantages. There were, however, drawbacks to the plan, of which he possibly became more conscious so soon as he had reduced it to black and white. It was three months since he had seen his mother; four more would be "a great while." If she decided upon passing the interval before the meeting of Parliament abroad— suddenly the Scotch university fades out of sight as if it had never existed-he was determined to go also and remain with her till recalled by his Parliamentary duties.

If he had been three months absent from his mother, there was some one else from whom he had likewise been absent for the like period, and that was Lady Catherine Meade; and though he was careful to protest that his sentiments with regard to her had remained

unalterably the same, a rival attraction, towards the end of August, had begun to make itself felt. He was right when, in planning that visit to Scotland, he had anticipated distractions, should he remain in his present surroundings. In these matters, as well as in those relating to money, he placed a just estimate upon his powers of resisting temptation, whether to extravagance or to idleness. Besides, "si on n'a pas ce qu'on aime, il faut aimer ce qu'on a"; and it was not likely that a man of Lord Edward's temperament should find himself for long together without an object for his affections from which he was not separated by the breadth of the Irish Channel.

That the possibility of infidelity had begun to make itself felt was apparent, not only in his protestations of changelessness, but also in the credit he took to himself for the fact that, though he had been staying at Stoke, the house of his uncle Lord George Lennox, and had there enjoyed opportunities of intercourse with Lord George's three daughters, he still remained faithful.

"Though I have been here ever since the Duke went," he writes, not without some pride, "I am as constant as ever, and go on doting upon her; this is, I think, the greatest proof I have given yet. Being here has put me in much better spirits, they are so delightful."

And most delightful of all was Georgina Lennox, the youngest of the sisters, then about twenty-one. Giving a description of this niece some six years earlier,

Lady Sarah Napier had mentioned that she was considered to be very like herself, which would seem to imply that she was gifted with her full share of the family beauty; and with the wit, the power of satire, and the good-nature with which she was said, even at fifteen, to be endowed, she must have been a dangerous rival to the absent Lady Catherine. A fortnight later than the last letter quoted another was written, which contained a clear foreshadowing of the end, though still accompanied by the protestation of unalterable attachment.

"I love her more than anything yet, though I have seen a great deal of Georgina. I own fairly I am not in such bad spirits as I was, particularly when I am with Georgina, whom I certainly love better than any of her sisters. However, I can safely say I have not been infidelle [sic] to Kate-whenever I thought of her, which I do very often, though not so constantly as usual; this entirely between you and me. . . . I love nothing in comparison with you, my dearest mother, after all."

It is a precarious and intermittent supremacy at most that mothers enjoy, but they must make the best of it. The Duchess had, in fact, only exchanged one rival for another; but Lady Catherine Meade had passed for ever out of her young lover's life, and her place in it knew her no more.

CHAPTER V

1786-1788

Lord Edward and His Mother-Increasing

IF

Interest in

Politics The Duke of Rutland Viceroy-Lord Edward's
Position in Parliament and Outside It-Visit to Spain-
General O'Hara.

F Lord Edward was once more in love, he said less about it than when Lady Catherine had been the heroine of his boyish romance. It does not appear that, even to his mother, his constant confidant, he mentioned, during the next few months, the passion which had taken hold of him. His silence may

possibly have been due to the fact that this second affair was a more serious matter than the first; or, again, he may still have been young enough to be shamefaced over his own inconstancy. At any rate, his reticence marks a new stage in his development.

One fancies, too, that other changes are perceptible; that his laughter is a trifle less frequent and wholehearted; that he has become a little older, a little wiser, than when "pretty dear Kate" was his constant theme. Perhaps something of the first freshness, so gay and so young as to be almost childish, is gone. And if his passionate love for his mother had lost

nothing of its fervour-the devoted affection which, in its clinging tenderness and open expression, was more like that of a daughter than a son-yet even upon this it would seem that a change had passed; that it had become graver and deeper than before-an affection which was shadowed by that foreboding apprehensiveness of possible loss which belongs to the first realisation of the transitoriness of all things human.

There had, however, been nothing to mar the gladness of their meeting after the months which, to one at least of the two, had seemed so long. The Duchess had passed through England on her way abroad in the autumn of the year which had witnessed the death of her boy's first fancy; and mother and son had met once more at her brother's house, where Lord Edward had eagerly awaited her.

"Do not stay too long at Oxford," he wrote when she was already on her way; "for if you do, I shall die with impatience before you arrive. I can hardly write, I am so happy."

It was some months before the two made up their minds to separate again. The Scotch scheme, notwithstanding all it had had to recommend it, had evidently died at birth, for there is no further mention of any such plan; such plan; and on the Duchess's departure Lord Edward accompanied her abroad, remaining with her at Nice until recalled to Ireland by the opening of Parliament.

Dublin seems to have had no more attraction for