e that
I stand in no peril."

For an instant Norwood seemed to hesitate how to act. The great veins of
his face and forehead became swollen and knotted, and he breathed with
the rushing sound of severe, restrained passion. At last, as if to guard
himself against any sudden impulse of anger, he walked round and seated
himself at the opposite side of the table.

D'Esmonde resumed as calmly as before: "Yes, my Lord, Lola took care
that everything should be regular and in form; and the names of
Gerald Acton and Lola de Seviglia are inscribed on the records of the
Collegiate Chapel. Two of the witnesses are still living; one of them,
then a poor boy carrying messages for the convent, is now captain in the
Pope's Guard."

"Come, come,----enough of this," cried Norwood, impatiently. "I see
the drift of it all. When the Church interposes her kind offices, the
question resolves itself always into money. How much--how much?"

"You mistake greatly, my Lord; but your error does not offend me. I know
too well how men of _your_ form of belief regard men of _mine!_ I am
not here either to combat a prejudice, or assert a right. I tell you,
therefore, calmly and dispassionately, that no demand is made upon you.
There is no siege laid against you, in person or in purse."

"Then how does the matter concern me, if this girl be alive?--and even
of that I have my doubts--"

"You need have none," said D'Esmonde, interruptingly. "Lady
Norwood-----"

"Stop! By Heaven! if you dare to give her that name, I'll not answer for
myself."

"I call her as she styles herself,----as she is called by all around
her. Yes, my Lord, the shame is as open as gossip and malevolence can
make it. The foreigner is but too glad when he can involve an English
name and title in a reproach that we are prone to cast upon him. A
peeress is a high mark for scandal! Who stoops to ask how or when or
where she became this? Who interposes a charitable word of explanation
or of incredulity? From what you know of life, on what side, think you,
will lie the ingenuity and craft? Whether will the evidence preponderate
to prove her your wife or to exonerate _you?_ At all events, how will
the matter read in England? I speak not of your ruined hopes of an
alliance befitting your high station. _This_ is beyond repairing! But
are you ready to meet the shame and ignominy of the story? Nothing is
too base, nothing too infamous, for an imputation. Will any one, I ask
of you--wi