"Family?" asked Buckingham, indifferently.

"Twins, I warrant," replied Hart, in an irritated tone.

Buckingham chuckled softly.

"No wonder he's tattered and gray," he declared, humorously
philosophizing upon Hart's reply, though it was evident that Hart
himself was too much chafed by the presence of his lordship in the
greenroom after the play to know what he really had said.

An ominous coolness now pervaded the atmosphere. Buckingham sat by the
table, impatiently tapping the floor with his boot, his eyes growing
dark at the delay. Hart still plumed himself before the mirror. His
dress was rich; his sword was well balanced, a Damascus blade; his cloak
hung gracefully; his big black hat and plumes were jaunty. He had, too,
vigour in his step. With it all, however, he was a social outcast, and
he felt it, while his companion, whose faults of nature were none the
less glaring than his own, was almost the equal of a king.

There was a tap at Nell's door. It was the call-boy, who had slipped
unobserved into the room.

"What is it, Dick?" asked Nell, sweetly, as she opened the door slightly
to inspect her visitor.

"A message,--very important," whispered Dick, softly, as he passed a
note within.

"Thank you," replied the actress; and the door closed again.

Dick was about to depart, when the alert Buckingham, rising hastily from
his seat, called him.

"That was Nell's voice?" he asked.

"Yes, my lord. She's dressing," answered Dick. "Good night, Master
Hart," he added, as he saw the manager.

Hart, however, was not in a good humour and turned sharply upon him.
Dick vanished.

"She will be out shortly, my lord," the manager observed to Buckingham,
somewhat coldly. "But it will do you little good," he thought, as he
reflected upon his conversation with Nell.

Buckingham leaned lazily over the back of a chair and replied
confidently, knowing that his speech would be no balm to the irate
manager: "Nell always keeps her engagements religiously with me. We are
to sup together to-night, Hart."

"Odso!" retorted the other, drawing himself up to his full height. "You
will be disappointed, methinks."

"I trow not," Buckingham observed, with a smile which made Hart wince.
"Pepys's wife has him mewed up at home when Nelly plays, and the King is
tied to other apron-strings." His lordship chuckled as he bethought him
how cleverly he had managed that his Majesty be under the proper
influence. "What danger else?" h