paragraph which will appear in to-morrow's
_Times_."

He took from his pocket-book a slip of paper on which was written the
following in Mrs. Disraeli's hand:--

Mr. Orange, the new Member for Norbet Royal, is the son of a French
nobleman of very ancient lineage. It was a condition of his
adoption by the late Admiral Bertin that his own name should be
dropped, and he has accordingly always borne that of the Orange
family. The circumstances of his birth were communicated to the
Queen before his naturalisation as a British subject, and his
presentation, by Mr. Disraeli, at Court.

"Was that necessary?" asked Robert.

"A public man must speak out, and this expedient occurred to me as a
slight pull in your favour. The two things in life which are really
gratuitous are the grace of God and one's pedigree! The rest depends
upon ourselves. Now you can't think how much I am interested in every
little detail of your mental experiences. I believe you will be a Jesuit
yet. I have never concealed my respect for the Jesuits. When Spain and
France expelled the Society of Jesus, they persecuted their truest
allies. A terrible price, too, they paid for that crime. You see, then,
that I understand staunch Catholics. If I could rouse an Imperial
feeling in England which would at all correspond with the feeling of
Catholics for their Church! Sometimes I dream this may be possible.
Pope, the satirist, remained, in spite of his wit, a loyal son of the
Faith, while many dull worthies who shuddered at his epigrams were
recanting daily either from fear or for some worldly advantage. In the
same way, Robert, men who hate my novels because they contain a few
truths, would sell England, if they could, to-morrow. I mentioned the
fact about Pope to a gentleman who complains that you are by no means
typical of your co-religionists in this country."

"The very expression 'typical Catholic' is a paradox," replied Robert,
who always accepted adverse criticism with good humour; "there is one
Spirit, but it has many manifestations. From the apostles, saints and
martyrs to the rank and file, we have to recognise the individuality of
each soul. In fact, sir, is not that the very essence of the Church's
teaching?"

"So I have always understood. And we have not heard the last of the 'law
of liberty'; although I observe to my chagrin that many modern Papists
depart from those great principles which they should take ev