The Heart of Penelope

Sir George Downing was back in London after an absence of twenty years from England. The circumstances which had led to his leaving his native country had been such that hecould not refer to them, even in his own mind, and even after so long an interval, withoutan inward wincing more poignant than that which could have been brought about by thetouching of any material wound. Born to the good fortune which usually attends the young Englishman of old lineage, a faircompetence and a traditional career-in his case the pleasant one of diplomacy-Downinghad himself brought all his chances to utter shipwreck. Even now, looking back with thedispassionate judgment automatically produced by the long lapse of time, and greater-ah, how much greater!-knowledge of the world, he decided that fate had used him hardl