and remained a republican under
Charles II.?"

"A republican? Not at all! He was sulking. He had a personal quarrel
with the king. I know from good authority that Lord Clancharlie would
have returned to his allegiance, if they had given him the office of
Chancellor, which Lord Hyde held."

"You astonish me, Lord Eure. I had heard that Lord Clancharlie was an
honest politician."

"An honest politician! does such a thing exist? Young man, there is no
such thing."

"And Cato?"

"Oh, you believe in Cato, do you?"

"And Aristides?"

"They did well to exile him."

"And Thomas More?"

"They did well to cut off his head."

"And in your opinion Lord Clancharlie was a man as you describe. As for
a man remaining in exile, why, it is simply ridiculous."

"He died there."

"An ambitious man disappointed?"

"You ask if I knew him? I should think so indeed. I was his dearest
friend."

"Do you know, Lord Eure, that he married when in Switzerland?"

"I am pretty sure of it."

"And that he had a lawful heir by that marriage?"

"Yes; who is dead."

"Who is living."

"Living?"

"Living."

"Impossible!"

"It is a fact--proved, authenticated, confirmed, registered."

"Then that son will inherit the Clancharlie peerage?"

"He is not going to inherit it."

"Why?"

"Because he has inherited it. It is done."

"Done?"

"Turn your head, Lord Eure; he is sitting behind you, on the barons'
benches."

Lord Eure turned, but Gwynplaine's face was concealed under his forest
of hair.

"So," said the old man, who could see nothing but his hair, "he has
already adopted the new fashion. He does not wear a wig."

Grantham accosted Colepepper.

"Some one is finely sold."

"Who is that?"

"David Dirry-Moir."

"How is that?"

"He is no longer a peer."

"How can that be?"

And Henry Auverquerque, Earl of Grantham, told John Baron Colepepper the
whole anecdote--how the waif-flask had been carried to the Admiralty,
about the parchment of the Comprachicos, the _jussu regis_,
countersigned _Jeffreys_, and the confrontation in the torture-cell at
Southwark, the proof of all the facts acknowledged by the Lord
Chancellor and by the Queen; the taking the test under the nave, and
finally the admission of Lord Fermain Clancharlie at the commencement of
the sitting. Both the lords endeavoured to distinguish his face as he
sat between Lord Fitzwalter and Lord Arundel, but with no better success
than Lord Eure and Lo