think how soon her proud spirit would rally from the shock.

Lady Lackington's face, as she withdrew her handkerchief, was of ashy
paleness, and her bloodless lips trembled with emotion. "Have you heard
what this man has said, Grace?" whispered she, in a voice so distinct as
to be audible throughout the room.

"Yes, dearest; it is most distressing," said the other, in the softest
of accents.

"Distressing! It is an infamy!" cried she. Then suddenly turning to
Spicer, with flaring eyes and flushed face, she said, "You have rather
a talent for blundering, sir, and it is just as likely this is but a
specimen of your powers. I am certain she is not his wife."

"I can only say, my Lady, that I took pains enough to get the story
accurately; and as Kuffner, the courier, was at the marriage--"

"Marriage!" broke she in, with a sarcastic irony; "why, sir, it is not
thus a peer of England selects the person who is to share his dignity."

"But you forget, my Lady," interposed Spicer, "that he did n't know he
was a peer--he had not the slightest expectation of being one--at the
time. Old Grog knew it--"

"Have a care, sir, and do not _you_ forget yourself. These familiar
epithets are for your associates in the ring, and not for _my_ ears."

"Well, the Captain, my Lady,--he is as well known by that name as the
other,--he had all the information, and kept back the letters, and
managed the whole business so cleverly that the first Mr. Beeeher ever
knew of his. Lordship's death was when hearing it from Mr. Twining at
Baden."

"I thought Mr. Twining was in Algiers, or Australia, I forget which,"
said Lady Grace, gently.

"Such a marriage must be a mockery,--a mere mockery. He shall break
it,--he must break it!" said Lady Lacking-ton, as she walked up and down
with the long strides and the step of a tigress in a cage.

"Oh dear! they are so difficult to break!" sighed Lady-Grace. "Mr.
Twining always promised me a divorce when the law came in and made it so
cheap, and now he says that it's all a mistake, and until another Bill,
or an Act, or something or other, is passed, that it's a luxury far
above persons of moderate fortune."

"Break it he shall," muttered Lady Lackington, as she continued her
march.

"Of course, dearest, expense doesn't signify to _you_," sighed out Lady
Grace.

"And do you mean to tell me, sir," said Lady Lacking-ton, "that this
is the notorious Captain Davis of whose doings we have been reading in