onteagle and his son. Wealth and artistic hands had combined to
bring all its sumptuousness into a rich and harmonious completeness.
The elder, who had just entered, walked with troubled brow toward the
window. The other, tall and strong, with features of fine proportion
and graceful contour, clad in a style denoting the aristocrat and man
of fashion, sat at a desk engaged in writing. For a time the only
sound breaking the silence was the sharp scratching of a goosequill
as it traveled over the paper. At last, having finished, and observing
the other for the first time, he remarked, as he folded the sheet:

"My lord, hast thou so soon returned from the audience? Did aught
transpire to ruffle thy temper? Or, mayhap," he continued with a
laugh, "His Majesty did read thee an essay on How to Take Snuff
Without a Nose, or some other learned subject dear to his heart."

"Not so, my son," Monteagle replied with gravity; "but I have heard
again rumors which set but ill upon my mind. 'Tis the talk of the
ante-chamber, and the first words which did greet my ear on entering
came from that silly, chattering coxcomb, Robert Carr, who, advancing,
enquired in a low voice, but which at the same time filled the room,
whether my daughter-in-law would be the new lady in waiting upon the
Queen. These many days the talk that hath been afoot connects thy name
with one whose ancestral lineage will not bear scrutiny, and, for
truth, much this gossip hath troubled me."

Effingston reddened, and turned in his chair toward the speaker,
suppressing an angry retort which sprang to his lips: "My lord, dost
thou believe all that Dame Rumor whispereth?"

"No, verily, being too long connected with affairs of State, but, in
my anxiety, I made inquiry, and much it paineth me to find these same
reports seem to have foundation. I do not demand but beg an
explanation from thy lips, to hear if that be true which reached my
ear."

"Your lordship knows," returned the other with an inclination of the
head, "that thy request is to me a command; therefore, I tell thee
frankly that what thou heard this morning is to an extent well
founded. Thou canst be sparing of thy fears," he continued as the
other was about to interrupt, "and ever be assured, respect for Lord
Monteagle, my father, and pride, the inheritance of the noble born,
will deter Viscount Effingston from actions which his conscience might
perchance approve. I will not disgrace thee or thy name," he