or which party, do you mean?" asked Paul.

"I mean for the Lackingtons."

"Well, there are two ways. I 'd send for Froode, and say, 'What's the
lowest figure for the whole?' or I'd despatch a trusty fellow to the
Crimea to watch Conway, and see what approaches they are making to him.
Of course they'll send a man out there, and it ought n't to be hard
to get hold of him, or, if not himself, of all his papers and
instructions."

"That looks business-like," said Grog, encouragingly.

"After all, Kit, these things, in ninety-nine cases out of the hundred,
are only snaps of the percussion-cap. There 's scarcely a peerage in
England is not menaced with an attempt of the kind; but such is the
intermarriage--such the close tie of affinity between them--they stand
manfully to the fellow in possession. They know in their hearts, if once
they let the world begin to pick out a stone here or there, the whole
wall may come tumbling down, and so they say, 'Here 's one of us since
Henry II.'s time going to be displaced for some upstart fellow none of
us ever heard of.' What signifies legitimacy that dates seven centuries
back, in favor of one probably a shoemaker or a house-painter? They
won't stand that, Kit, and reasonably enough, too. I suppose you've
heard all about this case from Beecher?"

"Well, I _have_ heard something about it," said Grog, in confusion, for
the suddenness of the question disconcerted him; "but _he_ don't care
about it."

"Very likely not. If Lackington were to have a son, it would n't concern
him much."

"Not alone that, but he does n't attach any importance to the claim; he
says it's all got up to extort money."

"What of that? When a highwayman stops you with the same errand, does
n't the refusal occasionally provoke him to use force? I know very few
things so hard to deal with as menaces to extort money. Life is, after
all, very like the game the Americans call 'Poker,' where the grand
secret is, never to 'brag' too far on a bad hand. What was _your_ part
in this business, Kit?" asked he, after a brief silence.

"How do you mean by _my_ part?" rejoined Davis, gruffly.

"I mean, how were you interested? Do you hold any of Lackington's
paper?--have you got any claims on the reversion?--in a word, does it in
any way concern you which king reigns in Israel?"

"It might, or it might not," said Grog, dryly. "Now for a question to
_you_. Could you manage to get employed in the affair,--to be sent out