"Cutbill is my name."

"Mr. Cutbill, you see that I have not only had a great many irons in
the fire through life, but occasionally it has happened to me that I
took hold of them by the hot ends."

"And burned your fingers?"

"And burned my fingers."

They walked on some steps in silence, when Baldassare said,--

"Where, may I ask, did you last see my son?"

"I saw him last in Ireland, about four months ago. We travelled over
together from England, and I visited a place called Castello, in his
company,--the seat of the Bramleigh family."

"Then you know his object in having gone there? You know who he is, what
he represents, what he claims?"

"I know the whole story by heart."

"Will you favor me with your version of it?"

"With pleasure; but here is the carriage. Let us get in, for the
narrative is somewhat long and complicated."

"Before you begin, sir, one question: where is my son now? is he at
Rome?"

"He is; he arrived there on Tuesday last."

"That is enough,--excuse my interrupting,--I am now at your orders."

The reader will readily excuse me if I do not follow Mr. Cutbill in
his story, which he told at full length, and with what showed a
perfect knowledge of all the circumstances. It is true he was so far
disingenuous that he did not confess the claim had ever created alarm
to the minds of the Bramleighs. There were certain difficulties, he
admitted, and no small expense incurred in obtaining information abroad,
and proving, as it was distinctly proved, that no issue of Montague
Bramleigh had survived, and that the pretensions of Pracontal were
totally groundless.

"And your visit to Savoy was on this very business?" asked Baldassare.

"You are right; a small detail was wanting which I was able to supply."

"And how does Anatole bear the discovery?"

"He has not heard of it; he is at Rome, paying court to an English lady
of rank to whom he hopes to be married."

"And how will he bear it; in what spirit will he meet the blow?"

"From what I have seen of him, I 'd say he 'd stand up nobly under
misfortune, and not less so here, that I know he firmly believed in his
right; he was no party to the fraud."

"These frauds, as you call them, succeed every day, and when they occur
in high places we have more courteous names to call them by. What say
you to the empire in France?"

"I'll not discuss that question with you; it takes too wide a range."

"Anatole must bethink him of some othe