e hundred and fifty thousand,
and it is selling now. If the proprietors were gentlemen, they would
have sent me an unlimited credit, instead of their paltry fifty pounds
a day and my expenses; but you never meet a liberal man now,--no such
animal known. What I want you to do for me, Lord Waldershare, is to get
me invited to the Villa Aurea when the court moves there. It will be
private life there, and that is the article the British public want now.
They are satiated with ceremonies and festivals. They want to know what
the royal pair have for dinner when they are alone, how they pass their
evenings, and whether the queen drives ponies."

"So far as I am concerned," said Waldershare, "they shall remain state
secrets."

"I have received no special favours here," rejoined St. Barbe, "though,
with my claims, I might have counted on the uttermost. However, it is
always so. I must depend on my own resources. I have a retainer, I can
tell you, my lord, from the 'Rigdum Funidos,' in my pocket, and it is in
my power to keep up such a crackling of jokes and sarcasms that a very
different view would soon be entertained in Europe of what is going
on here than is now the fashion. The 'Rigdum Funidos' is on the
breakfast-table of all England, and sells thousands in every capital of
the world. You do not appreciate its power; you will now feel it."

"I also am a subscriber to the 'Rigdum Funidos,'" said Waldershare,
"and tell you frankly, Mr. St. Barbe, that if I see in its columns the
slightest allusion to any persons or incident in this country, I will
take care that you be instantly consigned to the galleys; and, this
being a liberal government, I can do that without even the ceremony of a
primary inquiry."

"You do not mean that?" said St. Barbe; "of course, I was only jesting.
It is not likely that I should say or do anything disagreeable to those
whom I look upon as my patrons--I may say friends--through life. It
makes me almost weep when I remember my early connection with Mr.
Ferrars, now an under-secretary of state, and who will mount higher. I
never had a chance of being a minister, though I suppose I am not more
incapable than others who get the silver spoon into their mouths. And
then his divine sister! Quite an heroic character! I never had a sister,
and so I never had even a chance of being nearly related to royalty. But
so it has been throughout my life. No luck, my lord; no luck. And
then they say one is misanthro