erms of depreciation
and discredit. Some called him lucky,--a happy phrase that adapts
itself to any fancy; some said he was a commonplace, vulgar fellow, with
certain business aptitudes, but quite incapable of any wide or extended
views; some, again, went further, and said he was the mere tool of
certain clever heads that did not care to figure in the foreground; and
not a few wondered that "a man of this kind" should have ever attained
to any eminence or station in the land.

"You 'll see how his Excellency will turn him to account; he knows how
to deal with fellows of this stamp," said a private secretary in the
Castle.

"I have no doubt, sir, Mr. Davenport Dunn would agree with you," said
the Attorney-General, with a sneer; "but the opinion would be bad in
law!"

"He 's not very much of a churchman, I suspect," whispered a bishop;
"but we find him occasionally useful."

"He serves _our_ purpose!" pompously spoke a country gentleman, who
really, in the sentiment, represented a class.

Such was the man who now sat alone, communing with himself, in his room
at the Villa d'Este. Let us believe that he had enough to think of.

CHAPTER IX. A DAY ON THE LAKE OF COMO.

We fully sympathize with Lord Lackington, who preferred the picnic
and the society of Miss Molly O'Reilly to the cares of business and an
interview with Davenport Dunn. The Lake of Como, on a fine day of summer
or early autumn, and with a heart moderately free from the anxieties and
sorrows of life, is a very enjoyable locality, and essentially so to
a man of the world like the noble Viscount, who liked to have the more
romantic features of the scene blended with associations of ease
and pleasure, and be able to turn from the contemplation of Alpine
ruggedness to the sight of some terraced garden, glowing in the
luxuriance of its vegetation. Never, perhaps, was there ever a spot so
calculated to appeal successfully to the feelings of men of his stamp.
There was mountain grandeur and desolation, snow-peak and precipice; but
all in the back distance, not near enough to suggest even the fear
of cold, or the disagreeable idea of a sledge journey. There were
innumerable villas of every style and class,--some spacious and splendid
enough for royal residences; others coquettish little chalets, where
lovers might pass the honeymoon. There were tasteful pavilions over the
very lake; snug spots where solitude might love to ponder, a student
read, or an i