ll acquainted
with Lord Aylesbury, too; and I can tell you there are a good many
suspicions in that quarter. There is another noble lord, Lord
Montgomery, implicated; and all these good folks are suspected," and
he proceeded to read a list of some twenty or thirty names. "But
there is no intention of dealing harshly," he added; "and a
distinction will be made between the more culpable and the less. Pray
has Captain Churchill been here?"
"Not yet that I have heard of, my lord," replied Wilton; "but I
fairly tell your lordship that I do not think he was the man I saw,
though that was the name given."
The Earl rang the bell which stood upon the table, and when a servant
appeared, demanded if Captain Churchill had been there.
The servant replied in the negative, but added that Mr. Arden was
waiting. The Earl ordered him to be sent in; and the Messenger
accordingly entered, bearing on his face an air of triumph and
insolence which provoked Wilton's anger a good deal.
"Well, my lord," he said, not waiting for the Earl of Byerdale to
speak--"I have got proof positive now, for I have been at Captain
Churchill's lodgings, pumping his servants, and they tell me that he
was very ill all yesterday, as, indeed, I knew he was, and in bed the
greater part of the day."
"Indeed!" said the Earl. "This is strange enough! But as you say,
Wilton, that you do not think it was really Captain Churchill, the
name might be given merely as a nom de guerre, and the person giving
it might be a very honest man, too."
Before he could conclude, one of the servants announced that Captain
Churchill waited without; and in a moment after he was admitted,
presenting to Wilton's eyes a person not very unlike in size and form
the Duke of Berwick, and somewhat resembling him in countenance, but
several years older, and somewhat darker in complexion.
He entered with a gay and smiling air, and with a grace of carriage
and demeanour which was common to himself and his brother, afterwards
the famous Duke of Marlborough.
"Why, my lord," he said, advancing towards Lord Byerdale, and shaking
him by the hand, "I am almost alarmed at your unexpected summons,
especially after all the terrible doings which I hear have taken
place. Why, they tell me that the gates of Newgate have never ceased
turning upon their hinges all the morning, and that the Tower itself
is full."
"Not quite so bad as that," replied the Earl: "but I am sure, my dear
Captain, you have nothing to fear in such a matter."
"Not