t she should not be Lady Anna at all, if
she is to do that," said Mr. Mainsail.

"Very much better," said Mr. Flick, shaking his head, and remembering
that he was employed by Lord Lovel and not by the Countess,--a fact
of which it seemed to him that the Solicitor-General altogether
forgot the importance.

"Gentlemen, you have no romance among you," said Sir William. "Have
not generosity and valour always prevailed over wealth and rank with
ladies in story?"

"I do not remember any valorous tailors who have succeeded with
ladies of high degree," said Mr. Hardy.

"Did not the lady of the Strachy marry the yeoman of the wardrobe?"
asked the Solicitor-General.

"I don't know that we care much about romance here," said the
Serjeant. "The marriage would be so abominable, that it is not to be
thought of."

"The tailor should at any rate get his money," said the
Solicitor-General, "and I will undertake to say that if the case be
as represented by Mr. Goffe--"

"It certainly is," said the attorney.

"Then there will be no difficulty in raising the funds for paying it.
If he is not to have his wife, at any rate let him have his money.
I think, Mr. Flick, that intimation should be made to him that Earl
Lovel will join the Countess in immediate application to the court
for means to settle his claim. Circumstanced as we are at present,
there can be no doubt that such application will have the desired
result. It should, of course, be intimated that Serjeant Bluestone
and myself are both of opinion that the money should be allowed for
the purpose."

As the immediate result of this conversation, Daniel Thwaite received
on the following morning letters both from Mr. Goffe and Mr. Flick.
The former intimated to him that a sum of nine thousand odd pounds
was held to be due to him by the Countess, and that immediate steps
would be taken for its payment. That from Mr. Flick, which was much
shorter than the letter from his brother attorney, merely stated that
as a very large sum of money appeared to be due by the Countess Lovel
to the estate of the late Thomas Thwaite, for sums advanced to the
Countess during the last twenty years, the present Earl Lovel had
been advised to join the Countess in application to the courts,
that the amount due might be paid out of the income of the property
left by the late Earl; and that that application would be made
"_immediately_." Mr. Goffe in his letter, went on to make certain
suggestions,