she would take the offer. But when the proposal was mentioned to the
Countess, and explained to her by her old friend, Thomas Thwaite, who
had now become a poor man in her cause, she repudiated it with bitter
scorn,--with a scorn in which she almost included the old man who
had made it to her. "Is it for that, that I have been fighting?" she
said.

"For that in part," said the old man.

"No, Mr. Thwaite, not for that at all; but that my girl may have her
birth allowed and her name acknowledged."

"Her name shall be allowed and her birth shall be acknowledged," said
the tailor, in whose heart there was nothing base. "She shall be the
Lady Anna, and her mother shall be the Countess Lovel." The estate of
the Countess, if she had an estate, then owed the tailor some five or
six thousand pounds, and the compromise offered would have paid the
tailor every shilling and have left a comfortable income for the two
women.

"For myself I care but little," said the mother, taking the tailor's
hand in hers and kissing it. "My child is the Lady Anna, and I do not
dare to barter away her rights." This took place down at the cottage
in Cumberland, and the tailor at once went up to London to make known
the decision of the Countess,--as he invariably called her.

Then the lawyers went to work. As the double compromise could not be
effected, the single compromise could not stand. The Italian woman
raved and stamped, and swore that she must have her half million of
lire. But of course no right to such a claim had been made good to
her, and the lawyers on behalf of the young Earl went on with their
work. Public sympathy as a matter of course went with the young
Earl. As against the Italian woman he had with him every English man
and woman. It was horrible to the minds of English men and English
women that an old English Earldom should be starved in order that
an Italian harlot might revel in untold riches. It was felt by most
men and protested by all women that any sign of madness, be it what
it might,--however insignificant,--should be held to be sufficient
against such a claimant. Was not the fact that the man had made such
a will in itself sufficient proof of his madness? There were not a
few who protested that no further proof could be necessary. But with
us the law is the same for an Italian harlot and an English widow;
and it may well be that in its niceties it shall be found kinder to
the former than to the latter. But the Ear