s strange;
but still I have so many communications of different kinds--what may
it be, Mr. Brown?"
"It was, my lord," replied Wilton, in a low voice, "a warning which I
think it best to deliver, as, not knowing the gentleman's name who
gave it to me, I cannot tell whether it may be a mere piece of
impertinence from somebody who is perhaps a stranger to your grace,
or an intimation from a sincere friend--"
"But the warning, the warning!" said the Duke, "pray, what was this
warning?"
"It was," replied Wilton, "a warning not to go to a meeting which you
proposed to attend in the course of to-morrow."
"Ha!" said the Duke, with a look of some surprise--"did he say what
meeting?"
"Yes, my lord," replied Wilton--"he said it was a meeting at the old
King's Head in Leadenhall Street, and he added that it would be
dangerous for you to do so."
"I will never shrink from personal danger, Mr. Brown," said the Duke,
holding up his head, and putting on a courageous look. But the moment
after, something seemed to strike him, and he added with a certain
degree of hesitation, "But let me ask you, Mr. Brown, does my lord of
Byerdale know this?--You have not told Lord Sherbrooke?"
"Neither the one nor the other, my lord," replied Wilton--"I have
mentioned the fact to nobody but yourself."
"Pray, then, do not," replied the Duke; "you will oblige me very
much, Mr. Brown, by keeping this business secret. I must certainly
attend the meeting at four to-morrow, because I have pledged my word
to it; but I shall enter into nothing that is dangerous or criminal,
depend upon it--"
The nobleman was going on; and it is impossible to say how much he
might have told in regard to the meeting in question, if Wilton had
not stopped him.
"I beg your pardon, my lord," he said; "but allow me to remind you
that I have no knowledge whatsoever of the views and intentions with
which this meeting is to be held. I shall certainly not mention the
message I have brought your grace to any one, and having delivered
it, must leave the rest to yourself, whose judgment in such matters
must be far superior to mine."
The Duke looked gratified, but moved on without reply, as the rest of
his party were waiting at a little distance. Wilton followed; and
seeing the Duke and Lady Laura with Sir John and Lady Mary Fenwick
into their carriages, he proceeded homeward with Lord Sherbrooke,
neither of them interchanging a word till they had well nigh reached
Wilton's lodgings. There, however, Lord Sherbrooke