and left of me.
He was now, as he said to me once that he should become, 'the tongue of
London.' I could hardly expect to escape from curious scrutiny myself;
I was looked at. Here and there I had to lift my hat and bow. The
stultification of one's feelings and ideas in circumstances which divide
and set them at variance is worse than positive pain. The looks shed on
me were rather flattering, but I knew that in the background I was felt
to be the son of the notorious. Edbury came trotting up to us like a
shaken sack, calling, 'Neigh! any of you seen old Roy?' Bramham DeWitt,
a stiff, fashionable man of fifty, proud of his blood and quick as his
cousin Jorian to resent an impertinence, replied:

'Are you the Marquis of Edbury, or a drunken groom, sir?'

'Gad, old gentleman, I've half a mind to ride you down,' said Edbury,
and, espying me, challenged me to a race to run down the fogies.

A cavalcade of six abreast came cantering along. I saw my father listen
to a word from Lady Edbury, and push his horse to intercept the marquis.
They spoke. 'Presently, presently,' my father said; 'ride to the rear,
and keep at half a stone's throw-say, a groom's distance.'

'Groom be hanged!' Edbury retorted. 'I made a bet I'd drive you out of
the Park, old Roy!'

'Ride behind, then,' said my father, and to my astonishment Edbury
obeyed him, with laughter. Lady Edbury smiled to herself; and I
experienced the esteem I perceived in her for a masterful manner. A few
minutes later my father beckoned me to pay my respects to Graf Kesensky,
an ambassador with strong English predilections and some influence
among us. He asked me if he was right in supposing I wished to enter
Parliament. I said he was, wondering at the interest a foreigner could
find in it. The count stopped a quiet-pacing gentleman. Bramhaxri DeWitt
joined them, and a group of friends. I was introduced to Mr. Beauchamp
Hill, the Government whip, who begged me to call on him with reference
to the candidature of a Sussex borough: 'that is,' said he, turning to
Graf Kesensky, 'if you're sure the place is open? I've heard nothing of
Falmouth's accident.' The count replied that Falmouth was his intimate
friend; he had received a special report that Falmouth was dying, just
as he was on the point of mounting his horse. 'We shan't have lost
time,' said Mr. Hill. The Government wanted votes. I went down to the
House of Commons at midnight to see him. He had then heard of Falmouth'