. Logan. I have a daughter--'

Logan chanced to be slightly acquainted with the daughter, Lady Alice
Guevara, a very nice girl.

'Is she attached to a South African Jew?' Logan thought.

'In this case,' said the client, 'there is no want of blood; Royal in
origin, if it comes to that. To the House of Bourbon I have no
objection, in itself, that would be idle affectation.'

Logan gasped.

Was this extraordinary man anxious to reject a lady 'multimillionaire'
for his son, and a crown of some sort or other for his daughter?

'But the stain of ill-gotten gold--silver too--is ineffaceable.'

'It really cannot be Bristles this time,' thought Logan.

'And a dynasty based on the roulette-table, . . . '

'Oh, the Prince of Scalastro!' cried Logan.

'I see that you know the worst,' said the Earl.

Logan knew the worst fairly well. The Prince of Scalastro owned a
percentage of two or three thousand which Logan had dropped at the tables
licensed in his principality.

'To the Prince, personally, I bear no ill-will,' said the Earl. 'He is
young, brave, scientific, accomplished, and this unfortunate attachment
began before he inherited his--h'm--dominions. I fear it is, on both
sides, a deep and passionate sentiment. And now, Mr. Logan, you know the
full extent of my misfortunes: what course does your experience
recommend? I am not a harsh father. Could I disinherit Scremerston,
which I cannot, the loss would not be felt by him in the circumstances.
As to my daughter--'

The peer rose and walked to the window. When he came back and resumed
his seat, Logan turned on him a countenance of mournful sympathy. The
Earl silently extended his hand, which Logan took. On few occasions had
a strain more severe been placed on his gravity, but, unlike a celebrated
diplomatist, he 'could command his smile.'

'Your case,' he said, 'is one of the most singular, delicate, and
distressing which I have met in the course of my experience. There is no
objection to character, and poverty is not the impediment: the reverse.
You will permit me, no doubt, to consult my partner, Mr. Merton; we have
naturally no secrets between us, and he possesses a delicacy of touch and
a power of insight which I can only regard with admiring envy. It was he
who carried to a successful issue that difficult case in the family of
the Sultan of Mingrelia (you will observe that I use a fictitious name).
I can assure you, Lord Embleton, that polygamy p