with forged credentials of Envoy Extraordinary; the mission being an
invention of his own, to gain currency in the world and obtain for him
loans of large sums from various houses in the "City." "As he knows,"
continued Broughton's informant, "from his former experience, the day of
our courier's expected arrival, he has up to this lived fearlessly and
openly; but the despatch having reached us through the French cabinet
sooner than he expected, his plot is revealed. The great difficulty is
to avoid all publicity; for we must have no magisterial interference, no
newspaper or police notoriety; all must be done quietly, and he must be
shipped off to Russia without a rumor of the affair getting abroad."

Broughton heard all this with the dogged satisfaction of a man who
did not well know whether to be pleased or otherwise that an object of
personal vengeance had been withdrawn from him.

But not accustomed to dwell long on any subject where the main interest
of his own line of action was wanting, he drove home to his hotel
to hasten the preparations for his departure. On his arrival at the
Clarendon, a certain bustle and movement in the hall and on the stairs
attracted his attention, and before he could inquire the cause, a half
whisper, "There he is; that's Sir Dudley!" made him turn round; the same
instant a heavy hand was laid on his shoulder, and a man said, "I arrest
you, Sir Dudley Broughton, at the suit of Messrs. Worrit and Sneare,
Lombard Street."

"Be calm; don't make any resistance," whispered Taperton in his ear;
"come upstairs." They passed on, and entered the drawing-room, where
everything appeared in disorder. As for Broughton, he was bewildered and
stupefied by all he had gone through, and sat in a chair staring
vacantly at the groups around him, evidently unable, through the haze of
his disordered faculties, to see clearly how, and in what, he was
interested in the affair.

"Where's my lady?" whispered Taperton to the valet, who stood almost as
spell-bound as his master.

"Gone, sir; she's gone," said the man, in a faint voice.

"Gone where, scoundrel?" said Sir Dudley, jumping up and seizing him by
the throat with both hands, while he roared out the words with a savage
vehemence that startled all the room.

"Gone away, Sir Dudley," said the half-choking man; "I saw her drive off
in a chaise and pair with Count Radchoffsky."

Broughton let go his hold, and fell heavily upon his face to the ground.