hould. I can imagine that you should
have become too confirmed an Englishman to take kindly to Italian
public life as a career. You could hardly do so except as a follower
of your uncle, which perhaps would not suit you."

"It would be impossible."

"Just so. D'Ossi was saying to me this morning that he thought as
much. But there is no reason why a career should not be open to you
here as well as there;--not political perhaps, but official."

"It is the only career that at present is open to me."

"There might be difficulty about Parliament certainly. My advice to
you is not to be in a hurry to decide upon anything for a month or
two. You will find that things will shake down into their places."
Not a word was said about the name or title. When the gentlemen went
up-stairs there had been no brilliancy of conversation, but neither
were there any positive difficulties to be incurred. Not a word
further was said in reference to "George Roden" or to the "Duca di
Crinola."

CHAPTER X.

AFTER ALL HE ISN'T.

Six weeks passed by, and nothing special had yet been done to arrange
George Roden's affairs for him in the manner suggested by Lady
Persiflage. "It's a kind of thing that must be settled for a man by,
by, by--those who know how to settle it." That had been her counsel
when she was advocating delay. No doubt "things" often do arrange
themselves better than men or women can arrange them. Objections
which were at first very strong gradually fade away. Ideas which were
out of the question become possible. Time quickly renders words and
names and even days habitual to us. In this Lady Persiflage had not
been unwise. It was quite probable that a young man should become
used to a grand name quicker than he had himself expected. But
nothing had as yet been done in the right direction when the 1st of
June had come.

Attempts had been made towards increasing the young man's
self-importance, of which he himself had been hardly aware. Lord
Persiflage had seen Sir Boreas Bodkin, and Vivian had seen the
private secretary of the Postmaster-General. As the first result
of these interviews our clerk was put to sit in a room by himself,
and called upon to manage some separate branch of business in which
he was free from contact with the Crockers and Bobbins of the
Department. It might, it was thought, be possible to call a man a
Duke who sat in a separate room, even though he were still a clerk.
But, as Sir Boreas had o