gratified by the sight of the entrance into the inner room of the
person who was the cause of all this subdued commotion.

The newcomer was a very handsome man, of slender and graceful
proportions, tall and elegant, and dressed in the extreme of
fashion, yet with a taste that robbed foppery itself of any
appearance of absurdity in his case. He looked quite young at the
first glance; but a keen and practised eye could detect lines in
that gay and handsome face which only time could trace. Probably he
was past thirty by some years, yet many men of five and twenty
looked older. The only thing in which he differed materially from
his brother dandies was that he wore his own hair in lieu of the
wig; but so abundant and beautiful was it, lying upon his shoulders
in large curls of tawny golden hue, and clustering with a grace
about his temples that no wig ever yet attained, that not the most
ardent upholder of the peruke could wish him to change the fashion
of his coiffure, which, in fact, gave to his outer man a touch of
distinction which was well borne out by the elegance of his
deportment and costume.

Tom stared his fill at the newcomer, who was attended by several of
the habitues of the coffee house, and received their welcome with a
languid grace and indifferent goodwill. He was speedily
accommodated with the best seat in the room. Conversation was
hushed to listen to his words; the most fragrant cup of coffee was
brought to him by the beauty of the bar herself, and his orders
were dispatched with a celerity which was lacking to any other
customer.

Small wonder was it that Tom, gazing and marvelling, asked in a
whisper of the man next him:

"Who is it?"

"Lord Claud, of course, you rustic cub," was the scornful reply,
for politeness did not distinguish Tom's new friends. "Any fool
about town could tell you that much."

"I know it is Lord Claud," answered Tom, somewhat nettled; "but who
is Lord Claud? That is what I meant by my question."

Another laugh, not a whit less scornful, was the reply to this
second query.

"He'll be a clever fellow who tells you that, young greengoose from
the country!" was the answer, only that the words used were more
offensive, and were followed by the usual garnishing of oaths and
by blasphemous allusions to Melchisedec, from which Tom gathered
that nothing was known to the world at large as to the parentage or
descent of the man they called Lord Claud, and that this title had