aying the
expense of his funeral."

Nor have the men of Villiers' blood had any monopoly of adventure. Their
wives and daughters have seldom been content to lead the unromantic life
which happily contents so many of their sex. From Barbara Chaffinch,
whose intrigues secured the Earldom of Jersey for her husband in William
III.'s reign, to the Lady Adela Villiers who ran away with Captain
Ibbetson, a handsome young officer of Hussars, to Gretna Green and the
altar, they have played many diverse and sensational _roles_ on the
stage of their time.

It was but fitting that George Villiers, fifth Earl of Jersey, should
make a Countess of the Lady Sarah Sophia Fane, in whose veins was an
adventurous strain as marked as in his own; for she was the fruit of one
of the most dramatic unions recorded in the annals of our Peerage. A
year before she was cradled her mother was Anne Child, the richest
heiress in England--the only daughter of Robert Child, head of the great
banking firm at Temple Bar, and a descendant of Francis Child, the
industrious London apprentice who married the daughter of his master,
William Wheeler, goldsmith, whose riches and business he inherited.

"Old Child," as Anne's father was familiarly known, had many
aristocratic clients who used his cheques and overdrew their accounts;
but the most prodigal, as also the most ingratiating, of them all was
the young Earl of Westmorland, who, not content with making large
demands on the banker's exchequer and patience, had the audacity to
aspire to all his wealth through his daughter's hand.

Anne was perhaps as naturally flattered by the attentions of a lord as
she was fascinated by his handsome face and figure and his courtly
manners; but the father had other designs for his heiress than marrying
her to a prodigal young nobleman. "Your blood, my lord, is good," he
once told him; "but money is better."

Lord Westmorland was not, however, the man to be turned aside from the
gilded goal on which he had set his heart. If he could not wed the
heiress with her father's blessing, he would dispense with the
benediction. That he _would_ marry her he was determined; and Anne was
just the girl to assist a bold lover in such an ambition.

One day, so the story is told, Lord Westmorland decided to bring the
matter to a crisis. He had been dining with Mr Child, and, after the
wine had circulated freely, he said, "Now, sir, that we have discussed
business thoroughly, there i