ehand, by my lord.

"'Tis arranged thus: I sent off a courier to Jack Westbury to say that I
wanted him specially. He knows for what, and will be here presently, and
drink part of that bottle of sack. Then we shall go to the theatre in Duke
Street, where we shall meet Mohun; and then we shall all go sup at the
'Rose' or the 'Greyhound'. Then we shall call for cards, and there will be
probably a difference over the cards--and then, God help us!--either a
wicked villain and traitor shall go out of the world, or a poor worthless
devil, that doesn't care to remain in it. I am better away, Hal--my wife
will be all the happier when I am gone," says my lord, with a groan, that
tore the heart of Harry Esmond so that he fairly broke into a sob over his
patron's kind hand.

"The business was talked over with Mohun before he left home--Castlewood I
mean"--my lord went on. "I took the letter in to him, which I had read, and
I charged him with his villany, and he could make no denial of it, only he
said that my wife was innocent."

"And so she is; before Heaven, my lord, she is!" cries Harry.

"No doubt, no doubt. They always are," says my lord. "No doubt, when she
heard he was killed, she fainted from accident."

"But, my lord, _my_ name is Harry," cried out Esmond, burning red. "You
told my lady, 'Harry was killed!' "

"Damnation! shall I fight you too?" shouts my lord, in a fury. "Are you,
you little serpent, warmed by my fire, going to sting--_you?_--No, my boy,
you're an honest boy; you are a good boy." (And here he broke from rage
into tears even more cruel to see.) "You are an honest boy, and I love
you; and, by Heavens, I am so wretched that I don't care what sword it is
that ends me. Stop, here's Jack Westbury. Well, Jack! Welcome, old boy!
This is my kinsman, Harry Esmond."

"Who brought your bowls for you at Castlewood, sir," says Harry, bowing;
and the three gentlemen sat down and drank of that bottle of sack which
was prepared for them.

"Harry is number three," says my lord. "You needn't be afraid of him,
Jack." And the colonel gave a look, as much as to say, "Indeed, he don't
look as if I need." And then my lord explained what he had only told by
hints before. When he quarrelled with Lord Mohun he was indebted to his
lordship in a sum of sixteen hundred pounds, for which Lord Mohun said he
proposed to wait until my lord viscount should pay him. My lord had raised
the sixteen hundred pounds and sent them to Lor