his cook. Not living on the same scale, however,
the troubled woman said. She signified that it was now the whirlwind. I
could not help smiling to see how proud she was of him, nevertheless, as
a god-like charioteer--in pace, at least.

'Opera to-night,' she answered my inquiries for him, admonishing me by
her tone that I ought not to be behindhand in knowing his regal rules
and habits. Praising his generosity, she informed me that he had spent
one hundred pounds, and offered a reward of five times the sum, for the
discovery of Mabel Sweetwinter. 'Your papa never does things by halves,
Mr. Harry!' Soon after she was whimpering, 'Oh, will it last?' I
was shown into the room called 'The princess's room,' a miracle of
furniture, not likely to be occupied by her, I thought, the very
magnificence of the apartment striking down hope in my heart like cold
on a nerve. Your papa says the whole house is to be for you, Mr. Harry,
when the happy day comes.' Could it possibly be that he had talked of
the princess? I took a hasty meal and fortified myself with claret to
have matters clear with him before the night was over.

CHAPTER XXXIX. I SEE MY FATHER TAKING THE TIDE AND AM CARRIED ON IT MYSELF

My father stood in the lobby of the Opera, holding a sort of open court,
it appeared to me, for a cluster of gentlemen hung round him; and I had
presently to bow to greetings which were rather of a kind to flatter me,
leading me to presume that he was respected as well as marvelled at. The
names of Mr. Serjeant Wedderburn, Mr. Jennings, Lord Alton, Sir Weeton
Slater, Mr. Monterez Williams, Admiral Loftus, the Earl of Witlington,
were among those which struck my ear, and struck me as good ones. I
could not perceive anything of the air of cynical satellites in these
gentlemen--on the contrary, they were cordially deferential. I felt that
he was encompassed by undoubted gentlemen, and my warmer feelings to my
father returned when I became sensible of the pleasant sway he held over
the circle, both in speaking and listening. His sympathetic smile and
semi-droop of attention; his readiness, when occasion demanded it, to
hit the key of the subject and help it on with the right word; his air
of unobtrusive appreciation; his sensibility to the moment when the
run of conversation depended upon him--showed inimitable art coming of
natural genius; and he did not lose a shade of his superior manner the
while. Mr. Serjeant Wedderburn, professio