ndow," cried the listener; "and capital likenesses there are of Bob
Uniack and Vandeleur. Morris, too, is represented by a lame dog that
stands on a little eminence and barks vigorously, but makes no effort to
follow the chase."

"Much they care for all the ridicule and all the obloquy you can throw
on them," replied the reader. "They well know that the pensions and
peerages that await them will survive newspaper abuse, though every
word of it was true as Gospel. Now, here's a list of them alphabetically
arranged; and will you tell me how many will read or remember one line
of them a dozen years hence? Besides, there is a kind of exaggeration in
these attacks that deprives them of credit; when you read such stories
as that of Carew, for instance, throwing a main with the dice to decide
whether or not he'd vote with the Government."

"I would not say that it was impossible, however," broke in the other.
"Carew's a confirmed gambler, and we know what that means; and as to his
having a particle of principle, if Rutledge's story be true, he has done
far worse than this."

My father tried to arise from his seat; he even attempted to call out,
and impose silence on those whose next words might possibly contain an
insult irreparable forever: but he could not do either; a cold sweat
broke over him, and he sat powerless and almost fainting, while they
continued:--

"I'd be slow to take Master Bob's word, either in praise or dispraise of
any man," said the first speaker.

"So should I, if he could make it the subject of a wager," said
the other; "but here is a case quite removed from all chance of the
betting-ring."

"And what does it amount to, if true?" said the other. "He married
somebody's illegitimate daughter. Look at the peerage; look at one half
the small sovereignties of Europe."

"That's not the worst of it at all," broke in the former. "It was the
way he got his wife."

"Then I suppose I have not heard the story aright. How was it?"

"Rutledge's version is something in this wise: Carew had won such
enormous sums at play from one of the French princes that at last he
actually held in his hands some of the rarest of the crown jewels as
pledges. One of the ministers, having heard of the transaction, went
to the prince and insisted, under threat of a public exposure, on an
immediate settlement of the debt. In this terrible dilemma, the prince
had nothing for it but to offer Carew the valuable paintings and
furn