ask O'Connell to meet
you.'

Lord Fitz-pompey and Lord Darrell were profuse in congratulations; but
he broke away from them to welcome the man who now advanced. He was one
of whom he never thought without a shudder, but whom, for all that, he
greatly liked.

'My dear Duke of St. James,' said Arundel Dacre, 'how ashamed I am
that this is the first time I have personally thanked you for all your
goodness!'

'My dear Dacre, I have to thank you for proving for the first time to
the world that I was not without discrimination.'

'No, no,' said Dacre, gaily and easily; 'all the congratulations and all
the compliments to-night shall be for you. Believe me, my dear friend, I
share your triumph.'

They shook hands with earnestness.

'May will read your speech with exultation,' said Arundel. 'I think we
must thank her for making you an orator.'

The Duke faintly smiled and shook his head.

'And how are all our Yorkshire friends?' continued Arundel. 'I am
disappointed again in getting down to them; but I hope in the course of
the month to pay them a visit.'

'I shall see them in a day or two,' said the Duke. 'I pay Mr. Dacre one
more visit before my departure form England.'

'Are you then indeed going?' asked Arundel, in a kind voice.

'For ever.'

'Nay, nay, _ever_ is a strong word.'

'It becomes, then, my feelings. However, we will not talk of this. Can I
bear any letter for you?'

'I have just written,' replied Arundel, in a gloomy voice, and with a
changing countenance, 'and therefore will not trouble you. And yet----'

'What!'

'And yet the letter is an important letter: to me. The post, to be sure,
never does miss; but if it were not troubling your Grace too much, I
almost would ask you to be its bearer.'

'It will be there as soon,' said the Duke, 'for I shall be off in an
hour.'

'I will take it out of the box then,' said Arundel; and he fetched it.
'Here is the letter,' said he on his return: 'pardon me if I impress
upon you its importance. Excuse this emotion, but, indeed, this letter
decides my fate. My happiness for life is dependent on its reception!'

He spoke with an air and voice of agitation.

The Duke received the letter in a manner scarcely less disturbed; and
with a hope that they might meet before his departure, faintly murmured
by one party, and scarcely responded to by the other, they parted.

'Well, now,' said the Duke, 'the farce is complete; and I have come to
London to be the