st, he looked
Hankes steadily in the face, and said,--

"It was the Kellett girl dared thus to speak of me, was it not? The
truth, sir,--the truth; I _will_ have it out of you!"

"Well, I must own you are right. It was Miss Kellett."

Heaven forgive you, Mr. Hankes, for the lie, inasmuch as you never
intended to tell it till it was suggested to you.

"Can you recall the circumstance which elicited this remark? I mean,"
said he, with an affected carelessness of manner, "how did it occur? You
were chatting together,--discussing people and events, eh?"

"Yes, sir; just so."

"And she observed--Do you chance to remember the phrase she used?"

"I give you my word of honor I do not, sir," said Hankes, with a sincere
earnestness.

"People who fancy themselves clever--and Miss Kellett is one of that
number--have a trick of eliminating every trait of a man's character
from some little bias,--some accidental bend given to his youthful mind.
I am almost certain--nay, I feel persuaded--it was by some such light
that young lady read me. She had heard I was remarkable as a schoolboy
for this, that, or t' other,--I saved my pocket-money, or lent it out at
interest. Come, was it not with the aid of an ingenious explanation of
this kind she interpreted me?"

Mr. Hankes shook his head, and looked blankly disconsolate.

"Not that I value such people's estimate of me," said Dunn, angrily.
"Calumniate, vilify, depreciate as they will, here I stand, with my foot
on the first step of the peerage. Ay, Hankes, I have made my own terms;
the first 'Gazette' after the new elections will announce Mr. Davenport
Dunn as Lord Castledunn."

Hankes actually bounded on his chair. Had he been the faithful servant
of some learned alchemist, watching patiently for years the wondrous
manipulations and subtle combinations of his master, following him from
crucible to crucible and from alembic to alembic, till the glorious
moment when, out of smoke and vapor, the yellow glow of the long-sought
metal gleamed before his eyes, he could not have regarded his chief with
a more devoted homage.

Dunn read "worship" in every lineament of the other's face. It was as
honest veneration as his nature could compass, and, sooth to say,
the great man liked it, and sniffed his incense with the-air of Jove
himself.

"I mean to take care of you, Hankes," said he, with a bland
protectiveness. "I do not readily forget the men who have served me
faithfully. Of cou