t us have no more day-dreams, I asked you about Walter de Vallance."

"He is now Earl of Bellingham."

Evellin gnawed his lip, and angrily struck his fawning spaniel. "True,"
replied he, "the King would have him so. He forced these honours on him;
and if is thus, by prejudice and injustice, that he tampers with the
loyalty of a brave nation. Canst thou blame De Vallance for catching my
coronet before it fell to the ground by a false attainder? Why should
the title lie in abeyance? Is it not better worn by one allied to our
house than by an alien? Who so fit to sit in the baronial chair of our
common ancestor as my sister's son, now I am exscinded as a diseased
branch."

"He is a lad of the fairest promise," answered Williams, "but he will
never live to be Earl of Bellingham. Grant that no singular judgments
fall on the house of usurpation, yet the honourable blood which he
inherits from the Nevilles will so strive with the foul current of De
Vallance, that the ill-compounded body will not grow to manhood."

Evellin smiled: "Thou thinkest then," said he, "that Walter has played
the thief's part, and stolen what he could not honestly acquire."

"'Tis past thinking about," answered Williams; "the blame rests not on
the King's Majesty, whom Heaven prosper. He is too much raised above the
common intercourse of life to look into the hearts of those who take
care to approach him with a fair outside. His days are consumed by cares
and perplexities, and those who are apt and courteous in business must
needs have his ear. I well know that De Vallance gained the royal favour
by appearing to be your devoted friend, and by praising you for those
qualities in which it was Heaven's will to leave you somewhat defective.
Thus he praised your prudence, and produced your flight in proof of your
innocence; yet, in the same breath, gave some instance of your rashness,
and shewed that flight was ever the villain's resource. So contrariwise
were his pleadings and his praises, that His Grace said one day of him,
jestingly, 'Whatever my council may decide about Neville, I must keep De
Vallance in my service; for though he is an unapt advocate, he is a
right trusty friend.'"

"We are now," returned Evellin, "acting as jurors, deciding upon the
better part of a man's possessions, his honour. Let us then be candid
and wary. Zeal, like anger, often overshoots the mark. The lively
promptitude of feeling hurries our judgment beyond its natural p