ness. In the matter of setting free Lady Laura,
he showed himself more afraid of these good gentry than fond of them,
and after their arrival, he ran away and hid himself."
"And yet," said the Earl, "he's a rank Jacobite, too. But that does
not signify. He's an excellent creature, and the greatest rogue in
Christendom. All this chocolate comes from him; there's nothing like
it in Europe. Won't you take some, Wilton? I forgot to ask if you had
broken your fast."--Wilton replied that he had not, and the Earl made
him sit down and follow his example, of writing letters and taking
his chocolate at the same time. One of the notes, however, which the
Earl himself wrote, attracted his secretary's attention in some
degree; for as soon as Lord Byerdale had concluded it, he rang the
bell and gave it to a servant, saying, "Take that to Captain
Churchill's lodgings. You know where he lives, just in Duke Street.
Wait for an answer."
The man went away, and business proceeded. At the end of about an
hour, however, the servant returned, saying, as an excuse for his
long absence, that Captain Churchill was in bed when he reached his
house, and that his valet had refused to wake him.
"When he did wake, however, my lord," added the man, "he said he
would not detain me to write a note, as I had been kept so long
already; but would wait upon your lordship at the hour you named."
Shortly after the return of the servant, the Earl took up his papers,
and prepared to proceed to Whitehall. Before he went, however, he
paused opposite to the table at which Wilton was writing, and looking
at him for a moment with a smile, he said,--
"You are surprised, Wilton, and have been puzzling yourself with the
reason why I take so much more interest in you than I used to do. I
will explain it all to you, Wilton, in one word. I did not at first
know who you were. I now do, as I have before hinted; and my conduct
to one whom I believed to be a natural son of the Earl of Sunbury,
and who was forced upon me somewhat against my own will, was of
course very different from that which I show towards a young
gentleman of a high and noble family, not very distantly related to
myself.--Now are you satisfied?"
And with these words he left the room. Yet, strange to say, Wilton,
though not a little surprised at what he heard, knew the Earl of
Byerdale, and was NOT satisfied. But at all events, the words which
had passed set his mind at ease, in regard to Laura. He now felt that
he was committing no bre