the
king. "Have I not now discharged my debt?" he added to Rochester.

"Right royally, indeed, my liege," replied the earl, in a tone of
unaffected emotion. "My lord," he added, grasping Leonard's hand, "I
sincerely congratulate you on your newly-acquired dignities, nor less in
the happiness that awaits you there."

"If I do not answer you fittingly, my lord," replied the new-made peer,
"it is not because I do not feel your kindness. But my brain reels. Pray
Heaven my senses may not desert me."

"You must not forget the document you obtained this morning, my lord,"
replied Rochester, endeavouring to divert his thoughts into a new
channel. "The proper moment for consulting it may have arrived."

Lord Argentine, for we shall henceforth give him his title, thrust his
hand into his doublet, and drew forth the parchment. He opened it, and
endeavoured to read it, but a mist swam before his eyes.

"Let me look at it," said Rochester, taking it from him. "It is a deed
of gift," he said, after glancing at it for a moment, "from the late
Lord Argentine--I mean the elder baron--of a large estate in Yorkshire,
which he possessed in right of his wife, to you, my lord, here described
as Leonard Holt, provided you shall marry the Lady Isabella Argentine.
Another piece of good fortune. Again and again, I congratulate you."

"And now," said Charles, "other and less pleasing matters claim our
attention. Let the Lady Isabella be removed, under the charge of Doctor
Hodges, to Whitehall, where apartments shall be provided for her at
once, together with fitting attendants, and where she can remain till
this terrible conflagration is over which, I trust, soon will be, when I
will no longer delay her happiness, but give her away in person.
Chiffinch," he added to the chief page, "see all this is carried into
effect."

"I will, my liege, and right willingly," replied Chiffinch.

"I would send you with her, my lord," pursued Charles to Argentine, "but
I have other duties for you to fulfil. The plan you proposed of
demolishing the houses with gunpowder shall be immediately put into
operation, under your own superintendence."

A chair was now brought, and the Lady Isabella, after a tender parting
with her lover, being placed within it, she was thus transported, under
the charge of Hodges and Chiffinch, to Whitehall, where she arrived in
safety, though not without having sustained some hindrance and
inconvenience.

She had not been gone