they were said offhand and with the license
of coffee-house talk at so late an hour. Beau Wilson rose, in a somewhat
unsteady attitude, and, turning towards Law, addressed him with a tone
which left small option as to its meaning.

"Sirrah!" cried he, "I know not who you are, but I would have a word or
two of good advice for you!"

"Sir, I thank you," said John Law, "but perhaps I do not need advice."
He did not rise from his seat.

"Have it then at any rate, and be civil!" cried the older man. "You seem
a swaggering sort, with your talk of love and luck, and such are sure to
get their combs cut early enough here among Englishmen. I'll not
tolerate your allusion to a lady you have never met, and one I honor
deeply, sir, deeply!"

"I am but a young man started out to seek his fortune," said John Law,
his eye kindling now for the first time, "and I should do very ill if I
evaded that fortune, whatsoever it may be."

"Then you'll take back that talk of Mrs. Lawrence!"

"I have made no talk of Mrs. Lawrence, sir," said Law, "and even had I,
I should take back nothing for a demand like yours. 'Tis not meet, sir,
where no offense was meant, to crowd in an offensive remark."

Pembroke said nothing. The situation was ominous enough at this point. A
sudden gravity and dignity fell upon the young men who sat there,
schooled in an etiquette whose first lesson was that of personal
courage.

"Sirrah!" cried Beau Wilson, "I perceive your purpose. If you prove good
enough to name lodgings where you may he found by my friends, I shall
ask leave to bid you a very good night."

So speaking, Wilson flung out of the room. A silence fell upon those
left within.

"Sirs," said Law, a moment later, "I beg you to bear witness that this
is no matter of my seeking or accepting. This gentleman is a stranger to
me. I hardly got his name fair."

"Wilson is his name, sir," said Pembroke, "a very good friend of us all.
He is of good family, and doth keep his coach-and-four like any
gentleman. For him we may vouch very well."

"Wilson!" cried Law, springing now to his feet. "'Tis not him known as
Beau Wilson? Why, my dear sirs, his father was friend to many of my kin
long ago. Why, sir, this is one of those to whom my mother bade me look
to get my first ways of London well laid out."

"These are some of the ways of London," said Pembroke, grimly.

"But is there no fashion in which this matter can be accommodated?"

Pembroke and Castl