gh he's had a shock."

"Not at all in his usual form, at any rate," put in Mr. Thurwell, _sotto
voce_, from the other side of the table.

"Queer thing, but he seems to remind me of some one to-night," Lord
Lathon remarked to the Home Secretary, who was on the other side. "Can't
remember who it is, though. It's some fellow who's in a devil of a
scrape, I know. Who the mischief is it?"

"You mean Maddison, don't you?" Sir Philip Roden answered. "Plenty of
people have noticed that. There is a likeness, certainly."

"By Jove, there is, though!" Lord Lathon assented; "I never noticed it
before. I'm devilish sorry for Maddison, Roden, and I hope you won't let
them hang him."

The conversation turned upon the Maddison case and became general.
Everybody had something to say about it except Sir Allan. He himself, it
was noticed, forbore to pass any opinion at all, and at the first
opportunity he diverted the talk into another channel.

The quality of his guests spoke volumes for the social position and
popularity of their entertainer. Probably there were not half a dozen
men in London who could have got together so brilliant and select an
assembly. There were only twenty, but every man was a man of note.
Politics were represented by the Home Secretary, Sir Philip Roden, and
the First Lord of the Treasury; the peerage by the Duke of Leicester and
the Earl of Lathon. There were two judges, and a half a dozen Q.C.'s,
the most popular novelist of the day, and the most renowned physician. A
prince might have entertained such a company with honor.

It had been arranged that the advent of cigars should be the signal for
the Duke of Leicester to rise and propose their host's health. But to
the surprise of every one, whilst his grace was preparing for the
ordeal, and was on the point of rising, Sir Allan himself slowly rose to
his feet, with a look in his still, cold face so different from anything
that might be expected of a man who rises at two o'clock in the morning
after a capital supper to make a speech to his guests, that every one's
attention was at once arrested.

"I am given to understand, gentlemen," he said slowly, "that his grace
the Duke of Leicester was about to propose my health on your behalf. I
rise to prevent this for two reasons. First, because to a dying man such
a toast could only be a mockery; the second reason will be sufficiently
apparent when I have said what I have to say to you."

Every one was stupef