ondition that he should
be confronted with the criminal Hardquanonne, and identified by the
same. And on this point the chancellor, as constitutional keeper of the
royal conscience, based the royal decision. The Lord Chancellor added in
a postscript that if Hardquanonne refused to answer he should be
subjected to the _peine forte et dure_, until the period called the
_frodmortell_, according to the statute of King Athelstane, which orders
the confrontation to take place on the fourth day. In this there is a
certain inconvenience, for if the prisoner dies on the second or third
day the confrontation becomes difficult; still the law must be obeyed.
The inconvenience of the law makes part and parcel of it. In the mind of
the Lord Chancellor, however, the recognition of Gwynplaine by
Hardquanonne was indubitable.

Anne, having been made aware of the deformity of Gwynplaine, and not
wishing to wrong her sister, on whom had been bestowed the estates of
Clancharlie, graciously decided that the Duchess Josiana should be
espoused by the new lord--that is to say, by Gwynplaine.

The reinstatement of Lord Fermain Clancharlie was, moreover, a very
simple affair, the heir being legitimate, and in the direct line.

In cases of doubtful descent, and of peerages in abeyance claimed by
collaterals, the House of Lords must be consulted. This (to go no
further back) was done in 1782, in the case of the barony of Sydney,
claimed by Elizabeth Perry; in 1798, in that of the barony of Beaumont,
claimed by Thomas Stapleton; in 1803, in that of the barony of
Stapleton; in 1803, in that of the barony of Chandos, claimed by the
Reverend Tymewell Brydges; in 1813, in that of the earldom of Banbury,
claimed by General Knollys, etc., etc. But the present was no similar
case. Here there was no pretence for litigation; the legitimacy was
undoubted, the right clear and certain. There was no point to submit to
the House, and the Queen, assisted by the Lord Chancellor, had power to
recognize and admit the new peer.

Barkilphedro managed everything.

The affair, thanks to him, was kept so close, the secret was so
hermetically sealed, that neither Josiana nor Lord David caught sight of
the fearful abyss which was being dug under them. It was easy to deceive
Josiana, entrenched as she was behind a rampart of pride. She was
self-isolated. As to Lord David, they sent him to sea, off the coast of
Flanders. He was going to lose his peerage, and had no susp