, and Mr Melmotte was able to console
himself with the feeling that nothing certainly fatal had as yet
occurred.

There can be no doubt that the greater part of the people assembled
did believe that their host had committed some great fraud which might
probably bring him under the arm of the law. When such rumours are
spread abroad, they are always believed. There is an excitement and a
pleasure in believing them. Reasonable hesitation at such a moment is
dull and phlegmatic. If the accused one be near enough to ourselves to
make the accusation a matter of personal pain, of course we
disbelieve. But, if the distance be beyond this, we are almost ready
to think that anything may be true of anybody. In this case nobody
really loved Melmotte and everybody did believe. It was so probable
that such a man should have done something horrible! It was only hoped
that the fraud might be great and horrible enough.

Melmotte himself during that part of the evening which was passed
upstairs kept himself in the close vicinity of royalty. He behaved
certainly very much better than he would have done had he had no
weight at his heart. He made few attempts at beginning any
conversation, and answered, at any rate with brevity, when he was
addressed. With scrupulous care he ticked off on his memory the names
of those who had come and whom he knew, thinking that their presence
indicated a verdict of acquittal from them on the evidence already
before them. Seeing the members of the Government all there, he wished
that he had come forward in Westminster as a Liberal. And he freely
forgave those omissions of Royalty as to which he had been so angry at
the India Office, seeing that not a Prince or Princess was lacking of
those who were expected. He could turn his mind to all this, although
he knew how great was his danger. Many things occurred to him as he
stood, striving to smile as a host should smile. It might be the case
that half-a-dozen detectives were already stationed in his own hall
perhaps one or two, well dressed, in the very presence of royalty,--
ready to arrest him as soon as the guests were gone, watching him now
lest he should escape. But he bore the burden,--and smiled. He had
always lived with the consciousness that such a burden was on him and
might crush him at any time. He had known that he had to run these
risks. He had told himself a thousand times that when the dangers
came, dangers alone should never cow him. He had