dside of Lady Nottingham? The
ring was presented to Sir Thomas by Charles I., on the eve of his
first expedition to these islands. The Byams are almost equally
notable, descended as they are from the father of Anne Boleyn, Earl of
Wiltshire and Ormond." The spirit of British democracy still slept in
the womb of the century, with board schools, the telegraph, and the
penny press, and the aristocrat frankly admitted his pride of birth
and demanded a corresponding distinction in his friends. "I hope I
have not bored you," continued the young nobleman anxiously; "But I
have given you some idea of Warner's pedigree that you may see for
yourself that the theory of generations of gentle blood and breeding,
combined with exceptional advantages, sometimes culminating in genius,
finds its illustration in him. Also, alas! that such men are too often
the prey of a highly wrought nervous system that coarser natures
and duller brains are spared. When he was younger--I knew him at
Cambridge--nor, indeed a few years since, he had not drained that
system; his youthful vigour immediately rushing in to resupply
exhausted conduits. But even earlier he was always disposed to drink
more than was good for him, and when a wretched woman made ducks and
drakes of his life some four or five years since, he became--well--I
shall not go into details. This is his house. It has quite a history.
Alexander Hamilton, an American statesman, was born in it. Have you
ever heard of him?"

"No--yes, of course I have read Warner's beautiful poem to his
mother--and--I recall now--when one of the Hamiltons of Cambuskeith, a
relative of my mother, visited us some years ago, he talked of this
Alexander Hamilton, a cousin of his father, who had distinguished
himself in the United States of America."

Hunsdon nodded. "Great pity he did not carry his talents to England
where they belonged. But this is the house where his parents lived
when he was born. It used to be surrounded by a high wall, but I
believe an earthquake flung that down before my friend's father bought
the place. Warner was also born here."

The old house, a fine piece of masonry, was built about three sides of
a court, in the centre of which was an immense banana tree whose lower
branches, as close as a thatched roof, curved but a few feet above the
ground. The front wall contained a wide gateway, which was flanked by
two royal palms quite a hundred feet in height. The large unkempt
garden at th