Clyde, following on the track of the fugitives, not with any special desire to overtake them, but with a dim feeling that it was expected of him, fell into the hands of the same community of brigands. Diplomacy, while anxious to do its best for a lady in misfortune, showed signs of becoming restive at this expansion of its task; as a frivolous young gentleman in Downing Street remarked, “Any husband of

Mrs. Dobrinton’s we shall be glad to extricate, but let us know how many there are of them.” For a woman who valued respectability Vanessa really had no luck.