ge think it expedient to
employ any other lawyer, and should that lawyer apply to him. In the
meantime he thought that immediate enquiry would be a little
precipitate. The Marquis might probably himself take steps to put the
matter on a proper footing. He was civil, gracious, almost subservient;
but he had no comfort to give and no advice to offer, and, like all
attorneys, he was in favour of delay. "Of course, Lord George, you must
remember that I am your brother's lawyer, and may in this matter be
called upon to act as his confidential adviser." All this Lord George
repeated that evening to the Dean, and the Dean merely said that it had
been a matter of course.

Early on the next morning the Dean and Lord George went together to Mr.
Battle's chambers. Lord George felt that he was being driven by his
father-in-law; but he felt also that he could not help himself. Mr.
Battle, who had chambers in Lincoln's Inn, was a very different man
from Mr. Stokes, who carried on his business in a private house at the
West End, who prepared wills and marriage settlements for gentlefolk,
and who had, in fact, very little to do with law. Mr. Battle was an
enterprising man with whom the Dean's first acquaintance had arisen
through the Tallowaxes and the stable interests,--a very clever man,
and perhaps a little sharp. But an attorney ought to be sharp, and it
is not to be understood that Mr. Battle descended to sharp practice.
But he was a solicitor with whom the old-fashioned Mr. Stokes's would
not find themselves in accord. He was a handsome burly man, nearly
sixty years of age, with grey hair and clean shorn face, with bright
green eyes, and a well-formed nose and mouth,--a prepossessing man,
till something restless about the eyes would at last catch the
attention and a little change the judgment.

The Dean told him the whole story, and during the telling he sat
looking very pleasant, with a smile on his face, rubbing his two hands
together. All the points were made. The letter of the Marquis, in which
he told his brother that he was to be married, was shown to him. The
concealment of the birth of the boy till the father had made up his
mind to come home was urged. The absurdity of his behaviour since he
had been at home was described. The singularity of his conduct in
allowing none of his family to become acquainted with his wife was
pointed out. This was done by the Dean rather than by Lord George, and
Lord George, as he heard it