He must now leave the good people enjoying themselves at Queen's Crawley, and return to London to find out what is happening to Amelia.

The ladies in Amelia's social circle agreed that she was very good-natured but dull. The Misses Osbornes and Dobbins patronised the poor girl terribly, and Amelia was very shy in their company. 'What does George see in her?' they asked each other in wonder.

George Osborne himself became used to the idea that he was making an enormous sacrifice in marrying Amelia. He continued to visit the Sedley household, of course, but days went by when he ignored Amelia. She suffered, but she told no one about her suffering. Only George's friend Dobbin realised that the girl was unhappy.

Meanwhile great events were taking place in Europe. Napoleon's army was defeated by the allies, and the emperor was forced to abdicate and take up residence on the island of Elba. The financial markets of the world were disturbed. Mr Sedley suffered heavy losses in his investments on the stock exchange.

One day George Osborne visited Amelia, and invited her to dine with his family at Russell Square that evening. Amelia was delighted, and accepted happily.

Amelia arrived early at the house, and was talking with George's sisters when Mr Osborne came home. Mr Osborne seemed surprised to see her there.

'George is home today, Papa,' one of the sisters explained. 'He'll be coming in to dinner soon.'

'Will he indeed?' Mr Osborne said crossly. 'He'd better come in on time. I won't hold dinner for him.'

Mr Osborne sat down gloomily. When the clock struck the usual time for dinner, he rang for the butler.

'Dinner!' he ordered angrily.

'Mr George isn't in yet,' the man replied.

'Damn Mr George, sir. I'm the master here!' Mr Osborne commented angrily. 'Dinner, I say!'

The ladies looked at each other in fright.

Dinner was a silent affair. Mr Osborne said nothing, and no one else knew how to make conversation. George arrived halfway through the meal, and did not seem to notice his father's bad humour. He talked amusingly to Amelia and his sisters.

At last the ladies retired to the drawing room, leaving Mr Osborne and George to their wine. The older man was still bad-tempered. George did his best to cheer him up. The real reason for his visit was that he had run out of money. He was hoping for some money from his father. At last his father spoke.

'How are you and Amelia getting on?' he asked.

'Anyone can see that she loves me, sir,' George replied proudly.