"He is a man named Lopez," said Roby, "a friend of Happerton;--a very
clever fellow, they say."

"Did you ever see him anywhere else?"

"Well, yes;--I have met him at dinner."

"He was never in the House. What does he do?" Rattler was distressed
to think that any drone should have made its way into the hive of
working bees.

"Oh;--money, I fancy."

"He's not a partner in Hunky's, is he?"

"I fancy not. I think I should have known if he was."

"She ought to remember that people make a use of coming here," said
Rattler. She was, of course, the Duchess. "It's not like a private
house. And whatever influence outsiders get by coming, so much she
loses. Somebody ought to explain that to her."

"I don't think you or I could do that," replied Mr. Roby.

"I'll tell the Duke in a minute," said Rattler. Perhaps he thought
he could tell the Duke, but we may be allowed to doubt whether his
prowess would not have fallen below the necessary pitch when he met
the Duke's eye.

Lopez was there for the third time, about the middle of June, and had
certainly contrived to make himself personally known to the Duchess.
There had been a deputation from the City to the Prime Minister
asking for a subsidised mail, via San Francisco, to Japan, and Lopez,
though he had no interest in Japan, had contrived to be one of the
number. He had contrived also, as the deputation was departing, to
say a word on his own account to the Minister, and had ingratiated
himself. The Duke had remembered him, and had suggested that he
should have a card. And now he was among the flowers and the
greatness, the beauty, the politics, and the fashion of the Duchess's
gatherings for the third time. "It is very well done,--very well,
indeed," said Mr. Boffin to him. Lopez had been dining with Mr. and
Mrs. Boffin, and had now again encountered his late host and hostess.
Mr. Boffin was a gentleman who had belonged to the late Ministry, but
had somewhat out-Heroded Herod in his Conservatism, so as to have
been considered to be unfit for the Coalition. Of course, he was
proud of his own staunchness, and a little inclined to criticise the
lax principles of men who, for the sake of carrying on her Majesty's
Government, could be Conservatives one day and Liberals the next. He
was a laborious, honest man,--but hardly of calibre sufficient not
to regret his own honesty in such an emergency as the present. It is
easy for most of us to keep our hands from picking and