e almost impossible to escape
from her without leaving some amount of money in her hands. And then,
in a happy hour, she came at last across an old gentleman who did
appreciate her and her wrongs. How it was that she got an introduction
to Mr. Philogunac Coelebs was not, I think, ever known. It is not
improbable that having heard of his soft heart, his peculiar
propensities, and his wealth, she contrived to introduce herself. It
was, however, suddenly understood that Mr. Philogunac Coelebs, who was
a bachelor and very rich, had taken her by the hand, and intended to
bear all the expenses of the trial. It was after the general intimation
which had been made to the world in this matter that the summons for
Lady Mary had been sent down to Manor Cross.

And now in these halcyon days of March the Baroness also had her
brougham and was to be seen everywhere. How she did work! The attornies
who had the case in hands, found themselves unable to secure themselves
against her. She insisted on seeing the barristers, and absolutely did
work her way into the chambers of that discreet junior Mr. Stuffenruff.
She was full of her case, full of her coming triumph. She would teach
women like Miss Julia Mildmay and Lady Selina Protest what it was to
bamboozle a Baroness of the Holy Roman Empire! And as for the American
female----.

"You'll put her pipe out," suggested Mr. Philogunac Coelebs, who was
not superior to a mild joke.

"Stop her from piping altogether in dis contry," said the Baroness, who
in the midst of her wrath and zeal and labour was superior to all
jokes.

Two days before that fixed for the trial there fell a great blow upon
those who were interested in the matter;--a blow that was heavy on Mr.
Coelebs but heavier still on the attornies. The Baroness had taken
herself off, and when enquiries were made it was found that she was at
Madrid. Mr. Snape, one of the lawyers, was the person who first
informed Mr. Coelebs, and did so in a manner which clearly implied that
he expected Mr. Coelebs to pay the bill. Then Mr. Snape encountered a
terrible disappointment, and Mr. Coelebs was driven to confess his own
disgrace. He had, he said, never undertaken to pay the cost of the
trial, but he had, unfortunately, given the lady a thousand pounds to
enable her to pay the expenses herself. Mr. Snape, expostulated, and,
later on, urged with much persistency, that Mr. Coelebs had more than
once attended in person at the office of Mess