LI B RAR.Y 
 
 OF THE 
 
 UN IVLR5ITY 
 
 or ILLINOIS 
 
 823 
 Gc66i 
 
 V. I
 
 \c-\ 
 
 THE 
 
 BIRTHRIGHT, 
 
 AND OTHER TALES. 
 
 BY MRS. GORE, 
 
 AUTHORESS OP 
 THE BANKER'S WIFE," " THE MAN OF FORTUNE," &c. 
 
 IN THREE VOLS. 
 VOL. L 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 HENRY COLBURN, PUBLISHER; 
 
 GREAT MARLBOROUGH STREET. 
 
 1844.
 
 LONDON: 
 
 Printed by Schulze and Co. 13, Poland Street.
 
 v.l 
 
 DEDICATION. 
 
 TO THE AUTHOR OF THE 
 
 "DIARY OF A LATE PHYSICIAN.'^ 
 
 The story of the Birthright is but a feeble 
 shadowing forth of a striking anecdote, im- 
 pressively related to me by yourself. Having 
 abandoned the literary field for a more en- 
 grossing and important professional career, 
 you wished me to make the tale my own, 
 and all it has lost by the transfer, will be 
 understood by the reader. Such as it is, let 
 it serve as a memorial of your good will 
 towards, dear Mr. Warren, 
 
 Yours, very sincerely, 
 
 C. F. G.
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 I'll read you matter deep and dangerous. 
 As full of peril and adventurous spirit. 
 As to o'erwalk a current, roaring loud. 
 On the unsteadfast footing of a spear. 
 
 SHAKSPEARE. 
 
 " It was one of the bitterest winter morn- 
 ings I had ever the evil fortune to encounter ; 
 and a bitter morning on the cheerless, churlish 
 pavement of the meaner quarters of the metro- 
 polis, is a far more dispiriting thing than when 
 we meet it, face to face, on the hill side, or even 
 amid the sublime solitude of a barren moor." 
 
 VOL. I. B
 
 2 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 " Most true !" replied the young man to 
 whom this observation was addressed, by a 
 companion of more than double his years, as 
 they sat together over their wine, in the dining- 
 room of a fine old country mansion, named 
 Holme Court, ergoying sweet converse which 
 appeared to have led the elder of the two into 
 a vein somewhat narrative. 
 
 "As I was telling you, my dear Farehamj. 
 I had arrived in town at daybreak, by the 
 mail; and not chancing to find a hackney- 
 coach, at the office, left my luggage to be for- 
 warded, and walked stoutly on towards May 
 Fair, in hopes of thawing my benumbed limbs. 
 But if / was overcome with cold, what were 
 the miserable and often, I fear, houseless out- 
 casts whom here and there I encountered by 
 the way? At that untimely hour, wretched- 
 ness and vice alone are stirring. The rich, the 
 happy, sleep. But those who do lack and suifer 
 hunger, those most in need of rest and conso- 
 lation, are wanderers by the wayside, — forbidden
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 3 
 
 to lose sight or sense of the anguish which 
 assails their being." 
 
 The young man, thus addressed, involuntarily 
 cast his'cyes round the rich and well- warmed 
 apartment, as if recognising, for the first time, 
 the happiness of a lot cast ^in such pleasant 
 places ; — a lot which rendered such painful pic- 
 tures, as those described by his grave com- 
 panion, ideal as a poet's dream. 
 
 " As I said before," resumed the narrator, " I 
 trudged on and on, in the hope of keeping my- 
 self warm, in defiance of the beaten snow upon 
 the pavement, and ice upon the kennels, on 
 which a few wretched red-nosed urchins, with 
 their hands thrust into their ragged pockets, 
 were attempting to slide ; when, just as I was 
 crossing a by-street of the low^est description, in 
 the purlieus of Charing Cross, I was tempted 
 to hail a coach, which I saw jogging at a dis- 
 tance ; and while waiting its leisurely approach 
 (for both horses and driver appeared to be as 
 hard-frozen as myself) ! I was struck by the 
 
 B 2
 
 4 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 deplorable aspect of an old woman, seated on 
 the doorstep of the wretched gin-shop beside 
 which I was standing. It was barely daylight; 
 that is, the oppressive mask of London smoke 
 and London fog obscuring the face of day, 
 produced the sort of dreary twilight which the 
 Londoners call a winter's morning ; and there 
 sat the poor old creature, as deliberately as 
 though the weather were June !" 
 
 "Waiting, perhaps, for the means, obtained 
 from some charitable passer-by, to become a 
 customer at the pernicious spot adjoining ?" — 
 observed the younger man. 
 
 " No ! bestowing her care on a ragged infant, 
 which she was hushing upon her knee. Never 
 did I behold such a combination of age, filth, 
 and wretchedness, as was exhibited in the 
 countenance of that withered crone ! Her face 
 was as though unvisited for years by smiles or 
 ablution. We are, perhaps, to blame for con- 
 necting the idea of wickedness with dirt and 
 decrepitude ; but that miserable old woman
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 5 
 
 stmck me at once as a bad one, though literally 
 all I knew of her was that she was ragged and 
 wrinkled, and engaged in an office of humanity. 
 — Such slaves are we to our prejudices !" 
 
 " My experience of life, I fear, is little 
 worth," replied his young friend. " But I have 
 seldom found extreme old age exposed to 
 extreme destitution, where its antecedents had 
 been praiseworthy." 
 
 " The hag I am describing to you," resumed 
 the elder, " looked as though she had been, 
 never young and never virtuous. There was 
 cunning in her deep-set eyes ; there was ferocity 
 in the hard lines encircling her shapeless mouth; 
 and long before the arrival of the jingling 
 vehicle for which I was waiting, I had discovered 
 that what I had at first mistaken for an Irish 
 lullaby murmured over the peevish infant, con- 
 sisted of the most fiendish imprecations ! Ad- 
 vancing a step or two towards her, I perceived 
 that the poor little outcast on her knee had 
 been a lovely creature, till wasted by the want
 
 6 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 and privation which were probably the origin of 
 its present wailing. Its little features were 
 pinched with hunger, its little limbs blue with 
 cold. It had scarcely strength to utter its 
 fractious cries ; yet feeble as they were, they 
 stirred up the wrath of the beldam, till her 
 curses became converted into blows. — Yes ! my 
 dear Fareham, before I could interpose, the 
 already bruised limbs of the poor little outcast 
 were visited with a severe beating from her 
 withered hands ! — " 
 
 " Poor child !" — murmured the young man, 
 slightly raising his shoulders, and drawing a 
 heavy breath, as he replaced on the table, 
 untasted, the glass of claret he had been con- 
 veying to his lips. " Poor child of misery, — per- 
 haps of shame." 
 
 "Certainly of shame," rejoined his companion 
 in a stern voice. 
 
 "And probably predestined to a life of 
 vice — of crime — " 
 
 " No 1" interrupted the narrator, as though
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 7 ^ 
 
 fully acquainted with the circumstances of the 
 case, — " predestined, on the contrary, to a life of 
 luxury and joy ; — predestined to become the idol 
 of loving hearts, the minion of beauty, the 
 scholar of sages, the guest of princes ! — " 
 
 Lord Fareham could scarcely refrain from a 
 wondering smile at this extravagant apostrophe 
 on the part of his usually taciturn host and 
 kinsman Sir James De Lisle, which he was half 
 inclined to attribute to the excellent champagne 
 and claret they had been discussing. Yet both 
 had drunk sparingly ; and the eye of the elder 
 man, so far from exhibiting the exhilarating 
 effects of wine, was hard and severe. 
 
 " But how, may I ask, could you foresee all 
 this ?" — said Lord Fareham, addressing his host. 
 
 " I foresaw nothing, beyond the temporary 
 alleviation the alms of my bestowing might be 
 the means of insuring to the hapless child." 
 
 " By what means, then, have you since dis- 
 covered the propitious change in the destinies of 
 this wretched victim ?" —
 
 8 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 Sir James hesitated for a moment ; then, fixed 
 his large grey eyes sternly and searchingly on 
 his young friend. 
 
 " How did you manage to ascertain his after- 
 fortunes ?" — ^persisted Lord Fareham, becoming 
 almost agitated by the severe aspect of his 
 kinsman. 
 
 " Because," resumed the original speaker, in 
 a hoarse, but unflinching voice, " because — thou 
 art the man /" — ^
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT, 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 'Tis not impossible 
 But one, the wickedest caitiff on the ground, 
 May seem as shy, as gr^,ve, as just, as absolute, 
 As Angelo. 
 
 SHAKSPEARE. 
 
 Some days elapsed after the occurrence of the 
 foregoing startling scene, before Lord Fareham 
 fully recovered the disposal of his faculties. 
 
 His first impulse had been to burst into con- 
 vulsive laughter, believing himself to be the 
 victim of a scarcely justifiable mystification on 
 the part of Sir James De Lisle ; v^ho, though a 
 family connexion of his own, was a man of 
 singular character and habits. 
 
 But his explosion of merriment was met 
 with so reproving and contemptuous a counte» 
 
 B 3
 
 10 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 nance, that his next desire was to rush upon 
 the man who sat regarding him with so wither- 
 ing a sneer, and tell him that he lied in his 
 throat. But the hairs of his eccentric kins- 
 man were grey, and his hand tremulous ; and 
 taming down the vindictive feelings arising 
 within him, the young nobleman contented 
 himself with demanding further explanations, 
 and declaring his utter disbelief in a tale so long 
 withheld, and now, so inexplicably, so almost 
 wantonly, revealed. 
 
 " In such a case, mere asseveration is of 
 course, valueless," was the reply of De Lisle; 
 " and but that I hold in my possession full 
 proofs of all I have advanced, I should not 
 have attempted to enlighten your mind as to 
 the real nature of your worldly position. Come 
 with me to London, and the evidence shall be 
 laid before you, to destroy or publish, or sup- 
 press, according to your views of the case. 
 As your mother's nearest kinsman, as the com- 
 panion of her childhood, as one devoted to
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 11 
 
 her, heart and soul, I was originally tempted 
 to connive in an imposture, the results of which 
 you may read in the premature blanching of 
 my hair and wasting of my form. But now, 
 Henry, now that I see you on the eve of enter- 
 ing into life, and consummating the evil of 
 which we laid the foundations, by assuming in 
 public life the rank and station to which you 
 are so little entitled, and becoming in your 
 turn, a husband and a father, — thus also en- 
 tailing on an innocent family the stain of ille- 
 gitimacy — my conscience rebukes me beyonB 
 what I am able to bear. For the last month 
 have I determined to lessen my own responsi- 
 bility by sharing with yourself the burthen of 
 this hateful secret !" 
 
 The young man shuddered, and turned away; 
 for already, he felt fiiUy conscious of the weight 
 transferred to his heart. Yet he dared not 
 upbraid the man before him. The first im- 
 pulse of his generous nature had been, on the 
 contrary, to revile Sir James De Lisle for
 
 12 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 having so long permitted him to usurp a 
 name and fortune, to which he ought to have 
 remained at a fearful distance ; and after 
 so short a space, to recede from these honest 
 intentions into a regret that he should have 
 been roused even now from his pleasurable 
 dream, would have afforded too sad an evidence 
 of the weakness of human nature. 
 
 Yet, in the secresy and solitude of his 
 chamber, it was thus alas ! he argued with 
 himself. 
 
 " Next to the cruelty of keeping me so long 
 in error," mused he, during the first sleepless 
 night at Holme Court which succeeded the 
 revelations of his kinsman, — " next to suffer- 
 ing me to imbibe habits of luxury, enlighten- 
 ment, taste, refinement, — how little alas, 
 adapted to the sphere of ignominious poverty 
 into which I am about to be precipitated, — is 
 the callous selfishness of at length relieving 
 his own overcharged conscience, by flinging 
 upon mine the burthen of this hateful mystery.
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 13 
 
 I almost fancied that, amid his pretended re- 
 grets and self-reviling, I could discern in those 
 wondrous eyes of his a latent expression of joy 
 at the agony he was inflicting ! He watched 
 me, — great God ! how he watched me, — as he 
 proceeded in that terrible narrative; my whole 
 interest in which arose. Heaven knows, from 
 a mere impulse of humanity. How composedly 
 he sat reclining in his chair, to note the first 
 frantic outburst of my incredulity ; and in the 
 sequel, the depth of my despair ! — I scarcely 
 know how I refrained from rushing upon him, 
 when he first took courage to teU me to my 
 face, that I was a beggar's brat — a changeling 
 — illegitimate ! I — I, the heir of the house 
 of Arlingham.— I — Lord Fareham, the affianced 
 — the beloved of the noble Evelyn Lorn ! — ^Yes 
 — yes ! — here, alone as I am, let me for the 
 last time record those blessed distinctions ; — 
 for the last time revel in the delight of being 
 rich, great, honourable, beloved, respected ! 
 Time enough for the terrible reverse ! — ^Time —
 
 14 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 always time enough to be reviled, and spat 
 upon by the vile ; — nay, perhaps renounced and 
 rejected by those in whose affection I still 
 presume to put my trust." 
 
 Then flinging himself on the sofa of his dress- 
 ing-room, the young man covered his face with 
 his hands, and wept bitterly. 
 
 The livelong night did he pass in these buf- 
 fetings of spirit: the Hvelong night did he 
 abandon himself to his despair ; yet not without 
 oftentimes misdoubting the reality of the impres- 
 sions conveyed to him, and rebuking himself for 
 having, even for a moment, given credit to either 
 the ravings of a madman, or the sorry jest of afool. 
 
 Still, the perfect gravity and sobriety with 
 which De Lisle had delivered himself, — the plau- 
 sibility of the train of circumstantial evidence 
 he had brought together, — rendered perseverance 
 in incredulity impossible. He was forced to be- 
 lieve: and believing, to abhor his abject self, 
 and the world with which it was hencefor- 
 ward to be connected.
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 15 
 
 "To meet this man at breakfast with the 
 feelings now rankling in my mind, would be im- 
 possible !" was his concluding reflection, as the 
 first faint streaks of morning became perceptible 
 through the window, which the oppression of 
 his frame, even at that chilly season of the year, 
 had compelled him to open. " I could not do it ! 
 I should say something hateful. I cannot at 
 present answer either for my words or actions. 
 Yet were I to disturb the house at this untimely 
 hour by ringing to order posthorses, his servants 
 would apprise him ; and I should be having him 
 offer to accompany me back to town ! — Worse, 
 a thousand times worse than remaining here ! 
 Till I have made up my mind what steps to 
 take, I will neither be alone with De Lisle, nor 
 look again upon my father's face. — My father ? 
 — Alas ! have I still the courage to name that 
 loving friend — my father r 
 
 And again, tears flowed helplessly from his 
 eyes. 
 
 At length, in the perplexity of his distracting
 
 16 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 thoughts, he determined to leave the house as if 
 for an early morning walk, and repair to 
 the adjoining town of Woolsthorpe, through 
 which conveyances to town were passing at 
 every hour of the day, leaving on his table a 
 letter of explanation to Sir James, desiring that 
 his servant and carriage might proceed to Fare- 
 ham Castle, to await his further orders. 
 
 While occupied with the execution of his pro- 
 ject, the young man experienced aU the humi- 
 liation arising from the consciousness of an un- 
 worthy action. He felt that he ought to have 
 retained sufficient self-possession to encounter 
 Sir James De Lisle with an unflinching counte- 
 nance. For he had done nothing to be ashamed 
 of Whoever else might be guilty in the. affair, 
 he, at present, was blameless ; and to skulk away 
 from the roof of his entertainer, was an act of 
 weakness for which he despised himself. 
 
 Still, his courage did not enable him to con- 
 front a renewal of the scene and conversation of 
 the preceding night; and he accordingly de-
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 17 
 
 scended the gloomy oaken staircase of the 
 ancient mansion, where, at that untimely hour, 
 scarcely a servant was stirring; unbarred with his 
 own hand the ponderous hall door of Holme 
 Court, and having closed it noiselessly behind 
 him, hurried into the Park. 
 
 The sun of a hazy winter morning was mak- 
 ing a supercilious attempt to shine on the cheerful 
 landscape, as though it considered those leafless 
 woods and dingy pastures scarcely worthy of the 
 effort. The deer were huddled discontentedly, 
 together, getting through the dead season with 
 apparently as much ennui as their betters ; yet 
 so relieved did Lord Fareham feel by the cer- 
 tainty of having escaped from aU immediate 
 probing of his wound, that the dreary scene 
 looked bright and consolatory ; and by the 
 time he attained the high-road, he was 
 almost in spirits. — To have disappointed and 
 baffled his tormentor, was something ! 
 
 "When he comes down to breakfast, and 
 bending those icy grey eyes of his upon my
 
 18 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 vacant place, discovers that I have broken my 
 chains, and am gone to brood over my miseries 
 where at least my resolutions will be unshackled 
 by his arbitrary influence, he will be furious !" 
 mused the young man ; when, having taken a 
 seat in the first coach that presented itself, he 
 found himself bowling along his w^ay to town, — 
 so little regardless of the inconvenience of being 
 fifth passenger in a crowded public vehicle, that 
 his grumbling companions had little reason to 
 imagine the intruder was accustomed to any 
 more exclusive mode of conveyance. 
 
 By degrees, fresh air and rapid motion pro- 
 duced their usual effect upon his frame. x\nd 
 if no longer the joyous, triumphant, being 
 who had traversed that self-same road in his 
 travelling chariot the preceding day, — ^believing 
 himself to be the happiest of sons and 
 lovers, heir to a colossal fortune, and an ancient 
 earldom, — he had sufficiently recovered his self- 
 confidence to feel that, even if deprived of all 
 these means and appliances of happiness, even
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 19 
 
 if condemned to an ignominious position in life, 
 the high-minded man who had so long 
 cherished him as a son, could not at once with- 
 draw his affections : while, as to Evelyn, his 
 own dear Evelyn — ^but no ! of her it was as 
 yet impossible to think without a renewal of 
 the agonising tremours of his heart. 
 
 Lord Fareham had received a first-rate educa- 
 tion. All that Eton, Oxford and continental 
 travel under the care of an excellent private 
 tutor, could do to render him worthy the name 
 it was his fortune to bear, had been effected ; 
 and more than once, when receiving the com- 
 pliments of the college dons so apt to espy 
 genius in the eldest son of an Earl possessing 
 church and ministerial patronage, he had been 
 told with a smile, that " it was a pity he had not 
 his own way to make in the world." As yet 
 inexperienced in the servihty of mankind, it was 
 natural enough that, at such a moment as the 
 present, he should recur to these assurances 
 with feelings of pride and consolation.
 
 20 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 " At least, this dreadful blow will not find me 
 wholly helpless !" argued he. " If I have my 
 bread to earn, I trust I am not wholly without 
 the means of earning it; and if Evelyn will 
 only deign to share the bread thus earned, far 
 greater would be my happiness in her love, 
 than in the utmost pomp of Fareham Castle or 
 Berkeley Square. Well, well ! all, perhaps, is 
 not for the worst ! There may be comfort in 
 store for me, which not even the officious 
 malice of a Sir James De Lisle has power to 
 embitter." 
 
 As he approached the metropolis, however, new 
 embarrassments presented themselves. His first 
 idea had been, to take refuge in an hotel. But 
 he had quitted Holme Court without any other 
 effects than the clothes he wore, and the purse 
 in his pocket ; and shrank from the prospect of 
 the mistrust and curiosity which so strange a 
 state of things- must occasion among strangers. 
 — Better return to Berkeley Square, which he 
 had quitted only the preceding day, after spend-
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 21 
 
 ing a week in town on his way from Brighton 
 to Fareham Castle ; where he was at least sure 
 of a change of clothes. 
 
 Scarcely, however, had he exposed himself 
 to the ejaculations of the old porter and house- 
 keeper, always left in charge of the family 
 mansion, when he began to repent his precipi- 
 tancy. Vollies of anxious questions, regarding 
 himself, his father, his carriage, and his valet 
 (but the two last, first, in due order of pre- 
 cedency) reminded him, that as a man of his. 
 rank had no right to be sick, or sorry, or 
 capricious, without the consent of his servants ; 
 for in their anxiety lest he should have been 
 overturned, robbed, or otherwise incommoded, 
 his faithful menials contrived to render his 
 return home almost as disagreeable as though 
 some painful accident had indeed befallen him. 
 Lord Fareham was obliged to signify, with far 
 less than his usual coiu-tesy, the desire to be left 
 alone, to be denied to visitors, and unintruded 
 on by themselves, ere he could command the
 
 22 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 solitude so essential for the recomposure of his 
 
 bewildered mind. 
 
 * 
 Still, the old housekeeper, who had lived ih 
 
 that house so many years as to feel a sort of 
 proprietorship in the place, persisted m doing 
 the honours. Her master, the Earl, who oc- 
 cupied a high ministerial appointment, rarely 
 quitted London, except, as at the present time, 
 during the holidays. And she chose to make 
 Lord Fareham the confidante of her recent 
 efforts in his service, in having carpets taken 
 up and chimneys swept, previous to the return 
 of the family from the Castle. When he 
 ordered a simple dinner prepared in the study, 
 Mrs. Smith's fussy apologies for the disorder 
 of the place were, in short, so vexatious, and 
 her intrusions in order to make him more com- 
 fortable so inconvenient, that he peevishly 
 issued counter orders, and determined to dine 
 at his club. — He was- beginning to perceive that 
 solitude is easier to be found in a crowd, than 
 in a well-ordered home.
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 23 
 
 On reaching White's, however, the room was 
 full ; that is, it contained the eight or ten idle 
 men of his acquaintance, at all times to be 
 found on the pave of London ; dreading whose 
 exclamations of wonder at seeing him return so 
 soon from Fareham Castle, where, two days 
 before, he had announced his intention of 
 spending the remainder of the holidays, he ex- 
 tricated himself as speedily as he could, hurried 
 to the Clarendon, and having secured a private 
 room, sat down, in lonely sullenness, for the 
 enjoyment of his miseries. 
 
 Some people are better able to confront their 
 griefs in solitude ; some, while supported by the 
 stir and bustle of the world. Or more properly, 
 perhaps, the griefs of our own creation, the 
 griefs embittered by remorse, are harder to be 
 borne if alone with our self-accusations ; while 
 those which have fallen undeservedly on our 
 heads, become aggravated by the tumults and 
 even sympathy of society. It is urgent to meet 
 misfortune face to face, that we may take
 
 24 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 a just estimate of its proportions, and diminish 
 its magnitude by the exercise of our own phi- 
 losophy. 
 
 But there was nothing, not a single point, 
 shade, or phase in the distress of Lord Fareham, 
 which could obtain alleviation on a closer and 
 more deliberate survey. Compelled to resign 
 the ties and affections which had so en- 
 hanced the prosperities of his social position, 
 the new connexions about to substitute them- 
 selves for these lost treasures, were of a nature 
 to fiU him with dismay. Had he been only the 
 child of poor and honest parents, — parents 
 whom he might have cherished and respected ! — 
 But in addition to misery, grossness, and 
 ignorance, he had vice and shame to appre- 
 hend. He was the offspring of crime. He had 
 been found where, but for the cruel interference 
 of Sir James, he would have grown to man- 
 hood, — at the door of a gin-shop, hushed by 
 execrations, soothed by a blow ! 
 
 And to such entreatment, and such relation-
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 25 
 
 ship, was he about to return. Into such a pit 
 of infamy, was he about to sink. Cut off from 
 the dearer ties of life, reduced to a level below 
 that of even the lowest of those he had con- 
 sidered his menials, for a moment he clenched 
 his hands in anguish of spirit ; and as they lay 
 before him on the table beside which he was 
 seated, he could not forbear asking himself 
 whether they indeed constituted a portion of 
 the self-same man who, a few months before, 
 had estimated himself so highly ? — For he was 
 now beginning to loathe his very being. But 
 for the restraining principle, — the hope and 
 dread which constitute the basis of religion, — 
 he would probably have rushed from the strife 
 of his wounded soul into the fearful quietude 
 of the grave. 
 
 The officious attentions of the waiter recalled 
 him to himself; and he was vexed to find him- 
 self surprised at the fellow's persevering obse- 
 quiousness. So thoroughly had he been ab- 
 sorbed in the contemplation of his terrible situa- 
 
 VOL. I. C
 
 26 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 tion and the indignities to which it was 
 likely to expose him, that already he was 
 touched by expressions of a deference, to which 
 he felt himself unintitled. 
 
 As the dinner he had ordered stood untouched 
 before him, the waiter was eager in offering to 
 bring other dishes more to his Lordship's taste. 
 
 " Would his Lordship choose fish ? Game ? 
 Would his Lordship try a devilled fowl, or 
 broiled bone ?" 
 
 The man evidently conceived that the dis- 
 pirited air of one he had hitherto seen so 
 joyous, was the result of intemperance over 
 night, or losses at play ; — a common cause of low 
 spirits among the young men for whom he was 
 in the habit of catering. 
 
 Still, Lord Fareham's replies were most 
 unsatisfactorily negative ; and having simply 
 signified his desire to be left alone, he was about 
 to return to his uneasy contemplations, when 
 the man, whose curiosity and sympathy were 
 excited by a mood of mind which not even
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 27 
 
 coquilles de volaille a la financiers and a bottle 
 of Leoville were able to stimulate, re-opened 
 the door to announce, with a joyful countenance, 
 that Mr. Harbottle Driftington was in the 
 coffee-room, and desirous of seeing his Lord- 
 ship. 
 
 Lord Fareham half rose from his seat, and 
 was about to throw down his napkin and 
 attempt an escape from the house, so odious to 
 him at that moment was intrusion of any kind ; 
 but most of all, the intrusion of a man like 
 Driftington, — a creature of the clubs and coteries, 
 whose existence consisted in hearing and re- 
 peating ; hearing, in order that he might repeat 
 again, — ^repeating, in order that more might be 
 told him. But before he could execute more 
 than the first movement, Driftington, who had 
 followed close upon the heels of the waiter, was 
 in the room. 
 
 " My dear Fareham, how are you ?" — cried he, 
 unceremoniously sitting down. "I could not 
 believe my ears, when assured you were here 
 
 c 2
 
 28 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 again. You were one of those for whom I 
 inquired this morning, on arriving from Ire- 
 land ; and every body told me you had started 
 yesterday for De Lisle's, and that your father 
 had got all the world and his wife at Fareham 
 Castle, whom you were on your way to join." 
 
 " I was on my way. But recollecting some 
 business I had neglected in London, I retraced 
 my steps." 
 
 " Business, eh? — Some fellow you had for- 
 gotten to call out ? — or some girl to whom you 
 had forgotten to propose ? — or some bill you had 
 forgotten to pay ? — or, perhaps, only some man 
 you had forgotten to ask to dinner? Do you 
 remember Bob Presto, returning from Calais to 
 Paris, on the spur of a similar qualm of con- 
 science ?" — 
 
 " As I am dining alone, par preference and 
 for the sake of quiet, you are answered on the 
 latter question. The others are such as a man 
 never ventures to ask with the expectation of 
 receiving an answer."
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 29 
 
 " Crusty, eh ? — rThen I suspect I have hit 
 home ! But no matter ! you are here, and that's 
 enough. Monstrously glad I am to see you ; for 
 I was amazingly disappointed this morning, when 
 I heard that you had left town." 
 
 "Have you anything to say to me then?" 
 demanded Lord Fareham, whose nervous suscep* 
 tibility was already beginning to be alarmed by 
 the announcement of any person having 'particu- 
 lar business' with him. 
 
 " A thousand things, my dear fellow !" 
 
 The young man was relieved. In the world, 
 " a thousand things " constitute the synonym of 
 " nothing." 
 
 " In the first place, I wanted to congratulate 
 you — " 
 
 " Thanks !" was the succinct reply of Lord 
 Fareham, who was not one of those who evince 
 their respect for the woman of their choice, by 
 denying their engagement even at the foot of 
 the altar. — " At present, there is nothing settled 
 to caU for your congratulations."
 
 30 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 " Pardon me, pardon me, pardon me !" — cried 
 Driftington, who had already approached his 
 chair to the table, on which the claret and 
 oranges remained, with the evident intention 
 of prolonging his stay ; " all is completely 
 settled ! I had it from Lord Tarleton, who is 
 married you know, to a cousin of the Duke's." 
 
 "But who is no way connected, that I am 
 aware of, with either the Lorn family, or — or — 
 my own !" added Lord Fareham in a lower voice, 
 still believing that his companion alluded to his 
 intended alliance. 
 
 " I can promise you," returned Driftington, in 
 a more confidential tone, " that the Duke is as 
 safe as if you had him in your hat ! While the 
 opposition are crowing in the expectation of a 
 majority of twenty-six, your father, to whom we 
 are already so deeply indebted, has secured a 
 most unexpected accession of strength in this 
 coalition. Nay, don't deny it ! Unless his doing, 
 who on earth could have brought over the most 
 mulish and pig-headed of mankind P — And as I
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 31 
 
 said before, you have him in your hat ! Such a 
 coalition never strengthened a government ! — 
 Thirty-four votes ! Conceive, I entreat you, 
 conceive what a coup-de-main ! — ^What a trium- 
 phant majority to meet parliament at the com- 
 mencement of such a session as we have before 
 us ! — My dear Fareham, you must again allow 
 me to congratulate you." 
 
 " At present, I have taken so small a share in 
 politics," repKed Lord Fareham, in a listless 
 though harassed manner, " that I fear I cannot, 
 screw myself up to the pitch of enthusiasm 
 you seem to require." 
 
 " But, my dear fellow, you cannot be blind to 
 the fact that, but for this accession of strength, 
 the ministry could not have stood a month ! 
 The Irish question must have crushed them. I 
 promise you that in Dublin, it was scarcely 
 expected they would have courage to face parlia- 
 ment at all. However, as I said before, thanks 
 to yoiu" father, we have it hoUow ! — Snug for 
 the session — snug for half-a-dozen sessions! —
 
 32 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 In fact, I see no chance of our being out for the 
 next twenty years." 
 
 " Let me congratulate yoUj then, instead of 
 accepting your congratulations," observed Lord 
 Fareham, " for I am aware of the value you 
 attach to aU this. If the Duke of Hythe 
 have come over, a great point has certainly been 
 obtained. But I am not the more convinced 
 that — that my father has any share in his 
 conversion." 
 
 " Close, eh? The surer sign that it is)\\^ doing 
 and that you are in the secrets of the prison- 
 house! Keep them, my dear boy, keep them 
 and welcome. All I care for is the result ! — ^All 
 that touches me, is the result !— A majority of 
 fifty-two ! — By Jove, it is too glorious 1" 
 
 Lord Fareham's symptoms of impatience were 
 now unmistakable : but Driftington, both in and 
 out of the house, was accustomed to confront 
 symptoms of impatience with unconcern ; and 
 accordingly proceeded to unfold to his irritated 
 companion with the utmost sang-froid, the most
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 33 
 
 secret details of a political intrigue, which, had it 
 really existed, would have been kept concealed 
 from public participation with the most cautious 
 reserve. 
 
 " Perhaps," cried Driftington, suddenly inter- 
 rupting himself, on perceiving that not a syllable 
 could be extracted in reply, — " perhaps you have 
 cut the big wigs at Fareham, at such a crisis, 
 and are going down to Welworths ? — Quite 
 right, my dear fellow, I perfectly agree with you ! 
 Nothing so great a bore as the company of a 
 set of men at the moment they have such a pro- 
 digious roc's egg to cackle over ! Nothing else 
 talked of — nothing else thought of ! — I quite 
 agree with you, that Fareham Castle must be 
 the deuce of a bore this Christmas. And so 
 you are going down to Welworths? — ^Well, if 
 I had guessed as much, I would have made my 
 arrangements to go there too. I was there last 
 year, and thought the thing decidedly bad. 
 Jephson has such a villanous set of people about 
 him. Amusing enough, certainly; but one makes 
 
 c 3
 
 34 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 awkward acquaintances at Welworths, and they 
 stick to one afterwards. However, had I known 
 you were to be of the party this year, I would 
 have waived my objections, and contrived to 
 manage it." 
 
 " But what makes you for a moment suppose 
 I am going to Welworths ?" 
 
 " Because every third person I met this 
 morning, said he was going there. — All 
 the loose people I found on the pave, were 
 engaged to Jephson.- — There is to be an im- 
 mense party." 
 
 " You did not find me loose on the pave" 
 replied Lord Fareham. " I hate immense 
 parties, and never was at Welworths in my 
 life. — I have only a bowing acquaintance with 
 Sir John Jephson." 
 
 " And enough too, I promise you ! — His 
 house is a perfect menagerie. The broken- 
 down hons, who cannot find a den elsewhere, 
 are sure to be heard of in his set. Yes ! Wel- 
 worths is a house of call for broken-down
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 35 
 
 lions! — ^A capital name, eh? — Abominable of 
 you to give it, though ; you, who say you have 
 only a distant bowing acquaintance with Sir 
 John !"— 
 
 " Does it require to be a man's bosom 
 friend, to say something of him peculiarly 
 bitter ?" — replied Lord Fareham, shrugging his 
 shoulders. 
 
 "My dear fellow, you never saw such a set 
 of people as we had last year !" cried Drifting- 
 ton, unheeding. " All the regular diners out 
 and monkey men collected together, as the 
 pickpockets are at Botany Bay, with nobody's 
 pocket to pick. All actors— no audience; and 
 you may suppose that they would have sooner 
 expired than laugh at each other's jokes. It 
 was really terrible to hear the dead silence 
 that succeeded every pun ! However, there'U 
 be laughing enough, I'll answer for it, at 
 Fareham Castle, under the existing circum- 
 stances; so I strongly advise you to invite 
 your man to dinner in all speed, or shoot him.
 
 36 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 and have done with it, and return to your 
 lares and penates." 
 
 At any other moment, Lord Fareham might 
 have been tempted to observe to the intruder 
 that, in these times, people seem disposed to 
 dispense with invitations. But his mind was 
 too much preoccupied for pleasantry, — his spirits 
 too much depressed for retort. 
 
 " I am passing through town on my way to 
 Queen's Clere," resumed Driftington, as if in 
 reply to an inquiry which his companion 
 showed little disposition to make. " Pleasant 
 house enough ;— though I'm sure I don't know 
 why Lady Hester goes on inviting me ; except, 
 indeed, as the bosom friend of those who are 
 better matches than myself Ah, my dear 
 Fareham! — I am afraid you were a sad rogue 
 in that quarter !" 
 
 " I have not the honour of understanding you?" 
 said the young man, almost out of patience. 
 
 " You don't pretend ignorance that poor 
 Frances Hope is dying in love with you ? — "
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 37 
 
 " Most complete ; and if I thought you had 
 the slightest grounds for half your random 
 assertions, might think it necessary to add, 
 that no attentions of mine ever gave the shadow 
 of foundation for such an inference." 
 
 " Come, come, come ! — When you danced 
 with her at half the balls last season !" 
 
 " Among fifty other partners of her own 
 and mine." 
 
 " Well then, I have seen you take her to 
 the carriage at the opera a thousand times." 
 
 " Five at the utmost ; and when expressly 
 asked to do so by Lady Hester." 
 
 " Well ! I shall certainly tell them that I 
 saw you on my way through town; though 
 not altogether so radiant with your double 
 triumph, — private and public, — as I expected." 
 
 " You would really oblige me by finding 
 some better topic of conversation at Queen's 
 Clere, than my looks or prospects !" said Lord 
 Fareham, peevishly. 
 
 "Why, you don't mean to insinuate, my
 
 38 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 dear fellow, that anything is amiss with your 
 prospects ?" persisted Driftington. " I am 
 aware that the Clantullin family are deuced 
 sharp, knowing, canny folks I I was always 
 afraid you might have some difficulty in deal- 
 ing with them, when it came to the point ! 
 Settlements too stiff, eh ? — Gad ! I thought 
 so, the moment I saw you ! — However, your 
 father might stretch a point just now that 
 his affairs, and the nation's are getting on at 
 the rate of fifty knots an hour !" — 
 
 Lord Fareham had some difficulty in main- 
 taining his sang-froid under these persevering 
 attacks. He knew, however, that it was not safe 
 to leave such a man as Driftington astride upon 
 a false impression. Within four and twenty 
 hours, the clubs would be ringing with the story 
 of the rapacity of the Earl of Clantullin, or 
 the shabbiness of the Earl of Arlingham. 
 
 " In one word, Driftington," said he, " I 
 have had no misunderstanding with Lady 
 Evelyn Lorn, or her family. There has been,
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 39 
 
 as yet, no question of settlements between ns ; — 
 nor do I see why the simple circumstance of 
 eating a cutlet at the Clarendon, entitles you 
 to invent romances on my account. — I must 
 really beg you to exercise your skill in behalf of 
 some more deserving person. — And now, good 
 night ! — I am about to pay my bill, and be oif." 
 
 " My dear fellow, I will walk home with 
 you, — my way lies past your door," cried Mr. 
 Harbottle Driftington, not the least abashed. 
 
 " I am not going home." 
 
 " To the play then, of course ; for there is 
 not a soul in town, or a single house open ! 
 — I'll go with you and welcome ! — One never 
 has time for the theatres during the season, — 
 or more properly, the session." 
 
 " I am not going to the theatre. I have a private 
 engagement, and must wish you good night." 
 
 " A private engagement, eh? — I understand ! 
 — Fie, fie, fie, Fareham ! With so pretty a bride 
 in the case as Lady Evelyn, I really think ! — 
 However, you may rely upon me. Not a word
 
 40 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 of it at Queen's Clere, I promise you ; — though 
 it would probably afford some little consola- 
 tion to poor Frances Hope, to learn what 
 sort of a Benedict she might have found in 
 you." 
 
 Driftington was still talking, when Lord 
 Fareham, having hurried past him, was already 
 in the street ; rightly conjecturing that, in the 
 course of the evening, more than one of the 
 clubs would be diverted by a sketch of his 
 sulky solitary dinner at the Clarendon; with 
 supplementary hints that he had been either 
 turned out of doors by his father, or rejected 
 by Lady Evelyn Lorn. 
 
 It was not till he regained the " home no 
 more his own," and, having thrown himself 
 into an arm-chair, opposite a blazing fire in his 
 dressing-room, reflected that he had the whole 
 wakeful night before him for unmolested con- 
 sideration, that he could recover the petty irri- 
 tation of having been thus gratuitously intruded 
 tipon. It was evident that Driftington knew
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 41 
 
 the real value of his company, by the reckless- 
 ness with which he threw it away ! 
 
 Scarcely, however, had Lord Fareham com- 
 posed himself for the remainder of the evening, 
 when he was startled by a knock at the house 
 door. — A knock, at that hour — at that season 
 of the year ! — What could it mean ? 
 
 Before he had time to summon the porter to 
 receive his orders of exclusion, he heard the steps 
 of poor old Mrs. Smith stealing towards his door. 
 
 "Mr. Harbottle Driftington's compliments. 
 Sir, and he have brought back the pocket-book 
 you left on the table at the Clarendon Hotel, 
 when you paid your bill. — He would not have 
 disturbed you to-night. Sir, but he thought, 
 perhaps, you might feel uneasy on discovering 
 that you had lost it." 
 
 Lord Fareham felt far more uneasy, how- 
 ever, when, being restored to his hands, he 
 discovered that it contained a few mysterious 
 lines of adjuration, addressed to him by Sir 
 James De Lisle after their separation the pre-
 
 42 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 ceding night. Though almost ashamed of 
 himself for the supposition that a clasped 
 pocket-book could not safely pass through the 
 hands of a man calling himself a gentleman, 
 a man of education and standing in society, 
 the prying and gossiping propensities of Drift- 
 ington were too notorious not to provoke sus- 
 picion. Moreover, the unusual circumstance of 
 his having left the pocket-book with the ser- 
 vants, without an attempt at further intrusion, 
 looked sufficiently like consciousness ; and, at 
 all events, the discovery that the alleged " pri- 
 vate engagement" of Lord Fareham, was a mere 
 pretext to get rid of his company, was not likely 
 to liberalize his opinions or soften his reports 
 concerning the unaccountable abruptness of his 
 return to town. 
 
 Among the besetting miseries of Lord Fare- 
 ham's position, however, these vexations were 
 not likely to be long dwelt upon ! — He had 
 still to struggle against the billows of " a sea of 
 troubles !" —
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 43 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Each substance of a grief hath twenty shadows. 
 Which show Uke grief itself, but are not so. 
 For sorrow's eyes, glazed with bUnding tears. 
 Divide one thing entire to many objects. 
 
 SHAKSPEARE. 
 
 The late Countess of Arlingham, the hi- 
 therto supposed mother of Lord Fareham, was 
 the orphan niece and ward of Sir Andrew 
 De Lisle; by whom she had been so tenderly 
 reared and educated, that most people concluded 
 he intended his portionless kinswoman to be- 
 come the wife of his son. 
 
 Such, however, were not his views ; and on 
 discovering, as the cousins advanced towards 
 maturity, that the beauty of Selina De Lisle was 
 making a stronger impression than he desired 
 on the mind of the young man, the heir of
 
 44 THE BIRTHRIGHT; 
 
 Holme Court, instead of being placed in the 
 Guards according to the original intentions of 
 his family, was despatched to the continent 
 with a private tutor, with strict instructions 
 as regarded the interception of his English cor- 
 respondance. 
 
 It surprised Sir Andrew, indeed, to perceive 
 how little the young lover appeared to resent 
 this peremptory disposal of his destinies ; not 
 surmising that he quitted England without 
 anxiety or alarm, through perfect confidence 
 in the affections of his cousin. For Selina had 
 promised — -Selina had pledged herself! — So 
 soon as she had attained her majority, and 
 independence of the guardianship of her uncle, 
 she was to become the wife of him, who, 
 though only two years older than herself, had 
 obtained unlimited influence over her mind. 
 
 James De Lisle did not reflect that charac- 
 ters thus easily subjected to the ascendancy of 
 others, are open to new impressions and new 
 influences ; and that, during his absence, his
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 45 
 
 father might unduly work upon the plastic 
 dispositions of his cousin. — When, therefore, 
 rendered anxious by her prolonged silence, he 
 hurried back to England at the close of a 
 year's absence, and arrived at Holme Court 
 three days after her union with the Earl of 
 Arlingham, he was as much startled and as 
 thoroughly overwhelmed, as if the world con- 
 tained no antecedent example of female incon- 
 stancy ! 
 
 It was in vain his father represented to him 
 that their affection had been a mere boy-and- 
 girlish attachment, unworthy to stand the test 
 of absence. It was in vain Sir Andrew re- 
 presented that, had his niece persisted in encour- 
 aging her cousin to rebellion, he would have 
 cut off his son with a shilling, rather than 
 authorise a marriage which warred against aU 
 his feelings and principles ; — a marriage be- 
 tween first cousinS) — fatal to the prospects of 
 a family in every point of view ; — the unhap- 
 py young man w^ould listen to no arguments.
 
 46 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 — to no consolations. The superiority of the 
 bridegroom in rank and mental qualifications 
 was but an aggravation of his mortification. 
 — He was not only deserted, but felt that 
 a man, deserving the distinction, had been 
 preferred to himself — ^The Earl, who was one 
 of the handsomest and most rising young men 
 of the day, had evidently supplanted him in the 
 affections he had believed so fondly and firmly 
 his own ! — It was consequently upon Selina, 
 and not upon his father, he visited the frus- 
 tration of his hopes. 
 
 And how ? — for those who witnessed their 
 first meeting, some months after the brilliant 
 alliance formed by Miss De Lisle, had certainly 
 no reason to infer that the fervent congratula- 
 tions of her cousin were otherwise than sin- 
 cere. — It was in London they met; — amid 
 the crush and hurry of the season ; and Selina, 
 who, almost from the period of her cousin's 
 departure from England, had been induced by 
 his apparent neglect and the misrepresenta-
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 47 
 
 tions of his father of the dissolute life he was 
 leading on the continent, to believe herself 
 utterly forgotten, was now too happy in the 
 destinies which providence had assigned her, 
 to take much heed of the variations of his 
 countenance, or ponder over the exaggeration 
 of his expressions of joy. 
 
 As the adored wife of a man of superior 
 merit, — an adored wife with the prospect of 
 soon becoming a happy mother, — it was easy 
 to behold in James De Lisle only an affec- 
 tionate kinsman; whose friendship was not 
 Hkely to be shaken by those vices and volatili- 
 ties, which had fortunately prevented their 
 union ere it was too late for her happiness. 
 It did not for a moment occur to her that the 
 man, who had forgotten and renounced her 
 the moment she was out of sight, could still 
 regard her with more than kinsmanly affec- 
 tion. 
 
 Though unaware of the train of deceptions 
 which had led to this state of feeling, it was
 
 48 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 precisely thus that James Delisle desired to 
 find the woman, by whom he felt himself so 
 deeply injured ; — the woman on whom he had 
 already sworn to be as deeply revenged. He 
 washed him to be self-reliant, unobservant, un- 
 in quiring. He wished to become her confiden- 
 tial friend. No surer vantage ground, for one 
 who purposes to become a deadly enemy ! 
 
 But the post thus coveted and speedily 
 attained, proved to be one of torment to him- 
 self The young wife had nothing to confide 
 but her grateful affection for the man who had 
 chosen her, poor and untitled, to be the queen 
 of his happy home, and partner of his public 
 distinctions ; and the loathing lover had scarcely 
 patience with the humility of her devotion to 
 his rival. — ^Whenever they met, he had to 
 listen to her aspirings after greater excellence 
 and higher accomplishments, in order to be- 
 come more worthy the name she bore. — Then 
 came her anxiety that the child about to be born 
 to the Earl, should be a son — an heir ; — that
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 49 
 
 he should resemble his father in mental dis- 
 tinctions and firmness of character. — Yes ! — 
 so thoroughly had she forgotten, that the re- 
 served and apathetic Mr. De Lisle, who lounged 
 by her side, had ever been the dear cousin 
 James who loved her better than his life, that 
 she actually ventured to talk to him of the 
 future Lord Fareham who was to walk in the 
 steps of the Earl of Arlingham ! No passing 
 over that ! — Such utter want of sympathy and 
 perception was past forgiveness ! — 
 
 As the period approached for the consumma- 
 tion of the happiness of the woman thus loved 
 and hated, the struggle of passion, in the breast 
 of De Lisle, became indeed terrible. The Coun- 
 tess was sufficiently young and delicate for her 
 friends to be solicitous on her accoimt ; and as 
 she now seldom appeared in society, he had a 
 fair pretext for frequent visits to her house. 
 Often, after spending an hour by her side, 
 detecting in her words, looks, and occupa- 
 tions, a thousand unavowed references to the 
 
 VOL. I. D
 
 50 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 expected treasure which was to perfect her 
 household happiness, he felt as if he could 
 exterminate both it and her ; and if the Earl, 
 in the peaceful serenity of domestic love had 
 entered the room at that moment, some deadly 
 insult and deadly conflict might possibly have 
 been the result. 
 
 But with the cold dew rising on his fore- 
 head, and the execrations stifled in his breast, 
 he forbore ; forbore, because contemplating a 
 further-sighted and colder-blooded revenge. 
 It was fortunate, perhaps, that no accidental 
 interference revealed to him, in this excited 
 state of feeling, the share taken by his father 
 in all that had occurred ; for it required 
 stronger principles of self-restraint than existed 
 in the soul of De Lisle, to modify his desire of 
 vengeance. 
 
 The little victim, on whom he had anchored 
 his hopes of retribution, was fated to escape 
 him. — ^The child was born dead ! Another, 
 which succeefled the following year to its in-
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 51 
 
 heritance of hatred, survived only a day. And 
 as the repinings of the young Countess were 
 duly confided to him, — to him alone, as her 
 nearest kinsman and earhest companion, — the 
 feelings which might otherwise have languished 
 into tameness, were preserved in all their in- 
 tensity. Nay, with the perversity of an evil 
 mind, his passion for the adoring wife of the 
 Earl of Arlingham, appeared to grow with the 
 years which would have probably obliterated all 
 charm in poor Selina, had she become the part- 
 ner of his life. 
 
 Never had she appeared to him so beautiful 
 as when, weeping over the coffin which con- 
 tained the third living infant wrested fi'om her 
 affections; which, having survived the epoch 
 fatal to its predecessors, she had put the full 
 warmth of her loving heart into her hopes of 
 rearing to manhood. It happened that Sir 
 Andrew De Lisle and his son were her guests at 
 Fareham Castle at the moment of the sudden 
 illness which deprived her of this last and 
 
 D 2
 
 52 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 dearest treasure; and as the Earl had been 
 sent for express to Windsor for the discharge of 
 his public 'duties, it was but natural that the 
 counsels and attentions of her cousin should 
 acquire new value in the sight of the afflicted 
 woman. Sir Andrew was now old, infirm, 
 indifferent. But his son appeared to enter into 
 her feelings, as she poured forth her simple 
 lamentations over the body of her child. 
 
 A better man would have been touched 
 by the self-deprecation with which, even in 
 the bitterest of her grief, poor Lady Arling- 
 ham admitted that, if permitted by the Al- 
 mighty to retain a living child as the heir to 
 its father's virtues, her happiness would be too 
 great for mortal desert ; and as she proceeded 
 to point out to the seemingly sympathising 
 friend the trace in that little marble face of the 
 features dearest to her on earth, it seemed as 
 though some fiend were instigating her to stir 
 up the embers of wrath which her tears might 
 otherwise have quenched for evermore.
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 53 
 
 The following summer, Selina was again 
 about to become a mother; and the letters 
 which announced to her cousin that she was 
 fuller than ever of hope and courage, strength- 
 ened in health by time and the vigilant tender- 
 ness of those around her, reached him as he 
 was attending the death-bed of his father. The 
 old man's agony was a prolonged one; and 
 the little Lord Fareham was older than any 
 previous child of Selina's, before the kinsman, 
 who had now attained the enjoyment of his 
 family honours and estates, opposed his broad- 
 hemmed weepers to its laced robing. 
 
 " Is he not a noble little feUow ?" cried the 
 proud and happy mother, as she exhibited him 
 to Sir James De Lisle. " If my poor dear 
 uncle had only lived to see and bless him ; — my 
 uncle, who was to me so good and steady a 
 friend ! Dearest cousin, it is to you I must now 
 look for a continuance of that family affection, 
 — the only blessing I enjoy, which is not derived 
 from the best of husbands 1"
 
 54 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 On that hint, the benediction which had 
 spontaneously risen to the lips of Sir James De 
 Lisle at sight of the innocent beauty of the 
 noble boy, was converted into a cleaving curse ! — 
 
 Such was the connexion between the parties 
 interwoven by Sir James into the extraordinary 
 narrative which had recently startled the mind 
 of Lord Fareham. To the son of Selina, 
 indeed, he had avowed nothing of the early 
 engagement subsisting between them; all he 
 admitted, as regarded the Countess of Arling- 
 ham, being the tie of consanguinity, height- 
 ened by the warmest feelings of kinsmanly 
 attachment, 
 
 " I loved her as the dearest of sisters !** was 
 his expression, in describing to her son the 
 worldly position of the Countess; " and on my 
 return to England, it was to me, as to a valued 
 brother, she confided the bitterness of her mor- 
 tification at remaining childless. The affec- 
 tion entertained for her by your father, she 
 said, did not prevent him from letting her per^
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 55 
 
 ceive how grievously he was disappointed at the 
 idea of his family honours becoming extinct — 
 and his family estates descending to his worthless 
 cousin, Sir George Strickland ; while as to the 
 Countess-Dowager, my poor cousin scarcely 
 ventured to admit the tauntings and humi- 
 liations she had to endure at her hands ! The 
 death of her children, — so cruel a bereavement 
 to her young heart, — ^was made a matter of 
 reproach to her : for those she loved as the 
 babes of her bosom, were to her husband's 
 family only the heirs of its honours. 
 
 "When, therefore, my dear Fareham, I saw 
 poor Selina's health failing, and her spirit sink- 
 ing under the influence of renewed disappoint- 
 ment and perpetual reproach, I conceived a 
 desperate project. The last babe of Lady 
 Arlingham, though so fair and promising in its 
 early infancy, soon exhibited the symptoms of 
 fatal disorganization which had carried off its 
 predecessors. Already, it was beginning to 
 sicken J and in the wasted form, and despair-
 
 56 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 ing face of my afflicted cousin, I beheld indi- 
 cations of the loss of both, when accident 
 made me a spectator of the scene I have already 
 described to you; — a scene which, would to 
 heaven I could expunge from my mind for 
 
 evermore 
 
 " The contrast between that lovely infant — 
 starved, beaten, persecuted, abhorred, — and the 
 poor perishing babe of the Countess, suggested 
 a fatal expedient to my mind. 
 
 " For it was I, dear Henry, who, from first 
 to last, was solely and only to blame. The 
 project was mine — the fulfilment mine. The 
 crime — therefore, the crime be on my 
 head !"— 
 
 "While the atonement rests wholly on my 
 own r was the murmured interruption of Lord 
 Fareham. But of the ejaculation forced out 
 of the depths of his heart, his kinsman took no 
 heed. 
 
 " The venerable nurse, by whom Sehna and 
 myself had been reared, still presided in her
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 57 
 
 establishment," said De Lisle ; " and the old 
 lady entertained an idea, and had communicated 
 the impression to myself, that the system pur- 
 sued by your mother's medical attendants to- 
 wards her children, was the cause of all the 
 mischief. If the babes who had successively 
 perished at Fareham Castle, could have been 
 born and reared in some humble healthy cot- 
 tage, she was persuaded that they would have 
 lived and prospered. When, therefore, the 
 physicians announced that the last-born of the 
 predestined race exhibited the same fatal symp- 
 toms as the rest, the faithful old creature, so 
 attached to your poor mother, and so long an 
 eye-witness of her trials, was readily persuaded 
 by me to substitute for the sick infant one 
 whom I announced as the healthy child of one 
 of my tenants, under whose care the Httle Lord 
 Fareham was likely to be perfectly restored ; on 
 my undertaking to accept, in the sequel, the 
 blame of so bold an attempt, and reveal the 
 secret to her lord and lady on bringing back 
 
 D 3
 
 58 tHE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 to them, at some future period, the convalescent 
 treasure of their house. 
 
 " Assisted by her ministry and counsel, the 
 change was less difficult to be effected than you 
 might suppose. The strong opiate administered 
 to the miserable outcast I had rescued from 
 its unnatural parents, reduced it for a time 
 to a state almost resembling the weakness 
 of the dying babe of the Earl and Coun- 
 tess—" 
 
 " But that a mother's eyes could be so de- 
 ceived !" exclaimed Lord Fareham. " No ! that 
 woman could not have really loved her infant, or 
 she would instantly have detected the deception 
 practised on her ! The physicians, the fatherj 
 might be blinded; but a vigilant, tender, 
 eagle-eyed, nursing mother — oh ! never, — 
 never !" 
 
 " She luas deceived ! Even / had been anx^ 
 ious and doubtful on this score ; and never shall 
 I forget the agitation with which I beheld her 
 press for the first time to her poor heart, the
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 59 
 
 little alien we had imposed upon her. But she 
 was too thankful to Heaven for a change in its 
 appearance which she attributed to a favourable 
 turn in its disorder, to be very observant. The 
 eyes of the fond mother were too fuU of tears of 
 gratitude, to see clearly. 
 
 " The old nurse, meanwhile, found aU her 
 scmples quieted by the perfect success of our 
 project. While the physicians earned the good- 
 will of the happy parents by the gradual conva- 
 lescence, as it appeared, of their infant heir, ^ 
 constantly brought her assurances, my dear 
 Henry, of the corresponding improvement of 
 her nursling. A very few weeks, I assured 
 her, would suffice to place it on a par with 
 its representative, and enable me to explain all to 
 the Earl and Countess. But, alas ! for my 
 veracity ! within two days of its removal, it had 
 fulfilled the predictions of the physicians, and 
 given up the ghost !" — 
 
 " Thank Heaven I have not been the means 
 of keeping a living child in estrangement from
 
 60 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 the affection of its parents !" — exclaimed Lord 
 Fareham, fervently. 
 
 " Very different, however, were my own emo- 
 tions on seeing its little wasted limbs consigned 
 to the grave ! My attachment to Selina had 
 deadened my sense of all that was wrong in my 
 act of imposition^ till the excitement of success 
 was at an end. But when I saw that it was no 
 longer in my power to make restitution, my heart 
 sank within me. If forced to an avowal of the 
 truth, how could I satisfy the anxious heart 
 of my gentle cousin that her babe had been 
 properly tended ? Even if I succeeded in soft- 
 ening her indignation and that of her husband, 
 how was I henceforward to secure her against 
 the cruelties to which, when childless, she 
 had been formerly exposed ? At all events I de- 
 termined to prolong my period for consideration. 
 No need to confide to the venerable partner of 
 my fault, the infructuousness of our hopes of 
 the infant's recovery. It was something to see 
 Selina so happy while caressing the healthy babe
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. ' 61 
 
 who smiled in her arms, while receiving the 
 grateful courtesies of the family it was destined 
 to represent. 
 
 " I can scarcely describe to you, however, my 
 apprehension, lest, in some moment of weakness, 
 arising from senility, the old nurse should be 
 prematurely tempted to reveal the truth; and 
 never did I approach my cousin's house, without 
 misgivings of what might greet m.e on the 
 threshold ! 
 
 " But this source of anxiety, was not of long 
 continuance. The faithful servant of our family 
 was suddenly carried oif ; and though after her 
 apoplectic seizure she made several earnest 
 attempts to address her beloved lady, her words 
 were fortunately too inarticulate to betray 
 me. 
 
 " I had now, my dear Henry, nothing further 
 to dread from disclosure : all that remained to 
 be done, depended solely on myself." 
 
 While listening with growing conviction, to 
 these terrible details, the mind of Lord Fareham
 
 62 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 had been vainly labouring after sufficient compo- 
 sure to demand from Sir James De Lisle> no 
 longer his kinsman — no longer his friend — yet, 
 the sole arbiter of his destinies, — some account 
 of the intervening stage of his existence between 
 starvation at a gin-shop door, and the pampered 
 ease of the heir of an opulent earldom. He 
 wanted to ask — at his age, how terrible an 
 inquiry ! — who were his parents. 
 
 " I should not have been thus slow to inform 
 you," was the reply of his companion, " had my 
 intelligence any thing consolatory in store for 
 your feelings. But this, my dear Henry, is the 
 worst feature of the case. In bestowing charity 
 on the wretched old woman, thrown as it would 
 appear by the powers of mischief as a temptation 
 across my path, I had taken her address, with 
 the view of despatching one of my servants to 
 her habitation, and at some future time rendering 
 her farther assistance. But when, in hstening to 
 the lamentations of my old nurse over the cradle 
 of her noble nursling, there unhappily occurred
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 63 
 
 to my remembrance the bright eyes of the little 
 victim I had beheld wrestling against privation 
 and cruelty, I resolved to visit her myself*. 
 
 " I went, Henry ! Spare me the recital of all I 
 witnessed that is loathsome in vice and misery. 
 The squalor of that wretched room was such as 
 I had not before supposed vto exist in the 
 civilised world. To obtain possession of the 
 infant, there scarcely needed the bribe I offered ; 
 and I verily believe those infamous people would 
 
 have surrendered it to the first-comer, certain 
 
 • 
 
 not to return it at some fiitui^ time on their 
 hands. The old woman had some pretext for 
 regarding it as a burthen. For the child proved 
 to be the offspring of an abandoned grand- 
 daughter by a married man; and the girl, 
 instead of choosing to work for its maintenance, 
 seemed to forget its existence amid the troubled 
 courses of her vicious career. In short, my dear 
 boy, I obtained you for my own without a 
 scruple or a pang on the part of your nearest 
 relatives !" —
 
 64 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 " And did you never afterwards inquire what 
 became of these people, whose very name I have 
 not courage to ask ?"— faltered Lord Fareham. 
 
 " I had no need to inquire. The annals of 
 public justice acquainted me with the death 
 of your mother, in a street brawl; and, as on 
 the inquest, she was described as 'friendless,' 
 I concluded that the grandmother, with whom 
 she abided at the period of your birth, had 
 already paid the debt of nature." 
 
 "But you have surely — some trace, some 
 indication — of her antecedent modes of life ?" 
 
 " None — absolutely none T 
 
 "Yet something must have been known of 
 my father?"— 
 
 " Not even his name. The old woman spoke 
 of him as a hard and abandoned man, who had 
 refused to contribute to your maintenance. I 
 had nothing to gain by inquiring further. My 
 sole anxiety, at the time, consisted in frustrating 
 any wish they might have of obtaining fur- 
 ther knowledge of me. From the moment of
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 65 
 
 losing sight of you, however, I verily believe 
 they were never at the trouble of a single 
 question." 
 
 " In short/' persisted Lord Fareham, " I am 
 as one alone in the world, — devoid of a single 
 natural tie !" — 
 
 " Not if you will accept the fatherly affection I 
 offer you !" replied Sir James, in softened accents. 
 " Be mine, Henry ! — ^Whatev^er you may deter- 
 mine as regards your resignation of the rights you 
 still enjoy, rely, I beseech you, up®n my un- 
 changed, and unchangeable friendship. I am 
 alone in the world. I am heirless. Had not un- 
 fortunate circumstances determined me to in- 
 troduce you (Heaven knows with a purpose 
 very different from all that has occurred) into the 
 Arlingham family, I might have been tempted 
 to rear you as my own. The peculiar manner 
 in which you first attracted my attention, always 
 appeared to me the result of providential interven- 
 tion; and, but that Selina's afflictions were at 
 that moment all in aE to me, I should unques-
 
 66 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 tionably have rescued you from your career of 
 wretchedness, and supplied means for your edu- 
 cation." 
 
 The heart of Lord Fareham swelled within 
 him. The idea of being regarded as an object 
 of charity by a man he liked so little as Sir 
 James De Lisle, was cruelly at variance with the 
 habits of his previous life. Alas ! what would 
 he have given, at that moment, had the Earl of 
 Arlingham,— the noble, the excellent, the accom- 
 plished Earl of Arlingham, — whom he was no 
 longer to regard as a father, — been at least the 
 benefactor claiming his respect and gratitude, 
 instead of that worldly-minded man ! 
 
 With these angry feelings rankling in his 
 mind he withdrew from the presence of his 
 host, on pretence of having need of repose ; — 
 and instead of meeting him on the morrow, as 
 has been already described, furtively quitted his 
 house. And though he had now obtained the 
 first object of his desire, in the opportunity of 
 solitary meditation, his feelings were, if possible,
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 67 
 
 more agonizing than when still under the be- 
 numbing pressure of the first discovery. 
 
 In that house, there was every thing to 
 stimulate his regrets. Over the chimney-piece 
 of his room, hung a portrait of the beautiful 
 woman whom he had hitherto loved and 
 lamented as a mother ; the Countess of Arling- 
 ham, whose gentle virtues were embalmed in 
 the tears of her family and friends. Though 
 still a boy when deprived of her tender affection, 
 he cherished the memory of her excellence as 
 that of a saint. And to exchange /ler, to ex- 
 change the spotless being whose eyes seemed 
 fixed upon his own as he gazed fondly on her 
 picture, for every thing that was most degraded 
 in human nature, — this, this was bereavement, 
 indeed ! 
 
 Around him, too, were so many mementos 
 of early happiness, — of early affection ; — of the 
 goodness and greatness of the man who had 
 loved him so dearly, and so earnestly laboured 
 to render him an honour to his name !
 
 68 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 On the book-shelves around him, were the 
 favourite works they had read together; the 
 Tacitus, with annotations from the pencil of 
 Lord Arlingham ; the Montaigne, dog's-eared at 
 his favourite passages ; the Homer and Shaks- 
 peare, from which, in his holidays, the idolized 
 boy used to delight his father by voluntarily 
 getting portions by heart. There was the letter- 
 boxj containing a correspondence, every page of 
 which might be said to contain an antidote to 
 the letters of another celebrated Earl to his son, 
 as inculcating all that is manly, frank, and con- 
 sequently noble. There was the marble stand 
 to which, during his stay in Berkeley Square, he 
 was accustomed to append his grandfather's old- 
 fashioned watch, a family relic, a gift from 
 William III. to the first Earl of Arlingham. 
 There, above aU, was the chair in which, some 
 months before, he was seated, when Lord 
 Arlingham entered the room bringing open 
 in his hand the letter of the Earl of Clan- 
 tuUin, authorising the addresses of the over-
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 69 
 
 joyed Fareham to his daughter, Lady Evelyn 
 Lorn. 
 
 Every thing around him, in short, was in- 
 stinct with affecting reminiscences, cementing 
 anew the ties about to be rent asunder for ever- 
 moi^; and heavy moans burst from the over- 
 charged bosom of the hapless young man, as he 
 turned from the contemplation of these things, 
 with feelings he had little expected those 
 familiar objects of his daily life ever to inspire. 
 
 He rose and leant against the chimney-piece, 
 involuntarily directing his swimming eyes to- 
 wards the fair form of her who had been so 
 long the idol of his filial affection. 
 
 " Would— would that I died with her !" 
 w^as his faltered ejaculation ; and the exhausting 
 paroxysm of grief which succeeded, was so far 
 beneficial that, combined with the sleeplessness 
 of the preceding night, and fatigues and emo- 
 tions of the day, it induced him to throw him- 
 self on the sofa, where, ere another hour had 
 elapsed, he fell into a deep sleep.
 
 70 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 Already the night was far advanced; and 
 scarcely had daylight dawned, when he was aroused 
 from his unnatural slumbers, by a tapping at 
 his door, and the asthmatic wheezings of the 
 old housekeeper calling upon his name.
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 71 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 For now I stand as one upon a rock, 
 
 Environ'd with a wilderness of sea. 
 
 Who marks the waxing tide grow, wave by wave. 
 
 Expecting ever that some honid surge 
 
 Will, in its brinish bowels, swallow him. 
 
 SHAKSPEARE. 
 
 It was some minutes before Lord Fareham 
 could collect from the old lady's inarticulate 
 mutterings, that a gentleman insisted upon see- 
 ing him ; and his last impression of intrusive 
 officiousness being connected with Mr. Harbottle 
 Driftington, he issued a peremptory order to 
 be denied. 
 
 " I cannot see him — I can see no one !" — 
 cried he, half opening the door, and to the 
 amazement of Mrs. Smith, appearing, as she 
 supposed, already dressed for the day.
 
 72 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 " My dear Henry," cried a well-known voice, 
 instantly interposing, " you will not, I trust, 
 refuse to receive me ? I arrived from Holme 
 Court at a late hour last night,'* continued 
 De Lisle, profiting by the half-open door, to 
 make his way into the still half-darkened room. 
 " Having ascertained at Woolsthorpe that you 
 had taken your place for London, I disobeyed 
 your instructions about despatching your man 
 and baggage to Fareham Castle, satisfied that 
 such a measure would only unnecessarily excite 
 the alarm of Lord Arlingham. All still re- 
 mains at my house ; whither I earnestly hope 
 you will to return with me." 
 
 Lord Fareham reserved his reply till Mrs. 
 Smith, (who was awkwardly pushing open the 
 window-shutters, and revealing to view the con- 
 fusion of the room with the half extinguished 
 fire, and candles burning to their sockets), 
 should see fit to withdraw. 
 
 " You might have inferred my desire to be 
 alone, and mv determination to remain in town,
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 73 
 
 from the mode in which I quitted your house !" 
 s^id he, as the door closed after her. " I wish 
 to be free in body and mind for the contempla- 
 tion of my frightful situation." 
 
 " The society of so sincere a friend as my- 
 self, need surely be no impediment to your 
 reflections," said Sir James, in his usual bland 
 and persuasive voice. " I should not have 
 hazarded, my dearest Henry, my heart-rending 
 revelation, but that I felt I had you safe under 
 my roof, — secure of all the afl'ectionate allevia- 
 tion in my power to ofl'er you. I did not 
 dream of your escaping from me, as from an 
 enemy. I did not dream of your flying ofl" 
 to this desolate solitary home, to brood over 
 your troubles. All I could do, was to follow 
 you, — as under such circumstances I would 
 have followed a child of my own. Do not 
 deny me the poor consolation of being with 
 you in the most trying hour of your life." 
 
 The address of De Lisle was so earnest, that 
 Lord Fareham had not courage to give vent 
 
 VOL. I. E
 
 74 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 to the reproaches that rose to his lips. It was 
 impossible to say to a man, whose voice was 
 tremulous with emotion, " It is you — you alone, 
 who have brought me to this !" — He suffered 
 Sir James De Lisle to talk on without reply, 
 and at the close of an hour, the specious argu- 
 ments of one who called himself a friend, had 
 induced him to pledge himself that, for the 
 space of a month to come, he would take no 
 step towards acquainting Lord Arlingharn with 
 his fatal discovery of the extraordinary nature 
 of their relative position. 
 
 " This is all I exact of you, my dearest 
 Henry !" said De Lisle, after receiving this 
 solemn promise. "That you will come back 
 with me to Holme Court, I only entreat ; and 
 with little hope of your granting the petition 
 of one against whom you have so many causes 
 of displeasiu-e. I entreat it, however, as one 
 who has been the involuntary cause of evil to 
 you, and would fain be the active origin of 
 good. I entreat it of you as a christian, who
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 75 
 
 is required to forgive his enemies; — I entreat 
 it as " 
 
 " Why waste all this eloquence on an abject 
 wretch like me?" — cried Lord Fareham, with 
 uncontrollable bitterness. " I am now no more 
 than I was when you first found me, wailing 
 with pain and starvation, at a gin-shop door ! 
 Dispose of me now, therefore, as you did then. 
 Thrust me where I have no right, and no 
 desire to be. — Treat me as you have ever done, 
 like a wretched puppet " 
 
 " Wrong me, as you will, but wrong not 
 yourself !" interrupted Sir James De Lisle. 
 " You were then, my dear Henry, a helpless 
 infant. You are now a man ; — a man whose 
 mind is replete with instruction, — a man whose 
 heart is warm with feeling, — a man whose 
 character is tempered by the highest principles. 
 You have within you the germ of distinctions 
 as honourable as those you have been made 
 to usurp. You may become the founder of a 
 race as glorious — more glorious than that of 
 
 E 2
 
 76 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 the Earls of Arlingham. As you stand before 
 me, I know you to be my superior ; — superior 
 in talent and information, — ^superior in energy 
 of soul, — superior in all, perhaps, but the tact 
 which enables us to turn such endowments to 
 account. Instead, therefore, of hating me as 
 a tyrant in possession of a secret fatal to your 
 well-being, you should regard me as one who, 
 valuing and respecting you, would fain go 
 hand in hand in retrieving aU that is past, and 
 palliating all that is to come." 
 
 "AU that is past is irremediable!" — replied 
 Lord Fareham, coldly. 
 
 " The future, however," persisted Sir James, 
 " the future is still in your power. The future 
 is always in our powder. We are not, as the 
 w^eak and unprincipled pretend, carried on like 
 stocks and stones by the force of the current 
 of circumstances, unless we he stocks and 
 stones, and deserve to be no better. On the 
 extremest verge of a precipice, we have still 
 the power to restrain our footsteps."
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 77 
 
 The mild and persuasive tone affected by 
 Sir James, was gradually assuming over the 
 mind of his auditor the power which a per- 
 son evidently self-possessed, attains over one 
 whose spirit is perturbed by distracting emo- 
 tions. Lord Fareham, knowing himself to be 
 battling with a tempest, contemplated his com- 
 panion, as firm, steady, and at ease upon the 
 shore. 
 
 " What is it you require of me ?" said he 
 at length. 
 
 " That you return with me to my hotel to 
 breakfast; and after breakfast, to Holme Court." 
 
 Lord Fareham shook his head. Compliance 
 with these demands seemed like a first con- 
 cession towards signing a compact with the 
 evil one ! — Once established under the influence 
 of Sir James, he felt that he should soon 
 succumb and subscribe to whatever further 
 terms might be exacted of him. 
 
 " I will not return to Holme Court !" said 
 he, firmly.
 
 78 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 " You intend then to proceed to Fareham 
 Castle, and with the certainty before you of 
 breaking your solemn pledge of secresy !" 
 
 " I intend to proceed, (after a few days spent 
 in town, in tranquil self-examination,) to Fare- 
 ham Castle. But your confidence in the prin- 
 ciples you have just done me the honour to 
 praise, must be indeed slight, since you imagine 
 that the mere circumstance of being under the 
 same roof with Lord Arhngham, will induce 
 me to forfeit my word of honour to yourself." 
 
 " On the contrary, it is the honesty of your 
 soul that alarms me. You do not know your- 
 self, Henry, if you suppose it possible you 
 could live with him whom you still love as 
 a father and respect as one of the first of 
 mankind, in all the open confidence arising 
 from the tie supposed to subsist between you, 
 without speedy self-betrayal. Within four and 
 twenty hours of your re-establishment at home, 
 all would be known !" — 
 
 Lord Fareham was silent. He felt the im-
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 79 
 
 possibility of answering for himself that this 
 would not be the case. While he was still hesi- 
 tating, Sir James, who had been standing near 
 the fire-place, suddenly pointed to the por- 
 trait of Lady Arlingham gracing the chimney- 
 piece. 
 
 " By the memory of her who was so dear to 
 us both!" — said he, "by the memory of my 
 beloved kinswoman who was so fond a mother 
 to your infancy, who nursed you through your 
 childhood with such passionate tenderness, and, 
 in her last moments, bequeathed you to my 
 care and vigilance in the event of your becoming 
 fatherless, ere you attained to man's estate, — by 
 her memory, — by the loving eyes that even now 
 seem bent upon you, Henry ! — I adjure you to 
 hear me, and comply !" — 
 
 After an involuntary glance towards the sweet 
 face which was still to him as that of a super- 
 human being, the unhappy young man con- 
 trolled the choking sensations in his throat 
 sufficiently to reply, that he would follow Sir
 
 80 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 James to Holme Court in the course of a day or 
 two. 
 
 " No, you must bear me company !" — cried the 
 pertinacious friend. " Forgive me, if I say that 
 I cannot, just now, trust you in London alone." 
 
 Harassed by his pertinacity, the resolution 
 of Lord Fareham again gave way. 
 
 " Leave me, now !" said he. " Give me only 
 till one o'clock to be my own master; and if 
 you will call for me on your way to Holme 
 Court, I am at your disposal." 
 
 Too well was the good faith of his victim 
 known to Sir James, to admit of any fear that 
 this promise was a mere pretext to get rid of 
 him. When Lord Fareham asserted an inten- 
 tion, there was nothing to apprehend. 
 
 " At one o'clock, then, expect me !" — said De 
 Lisle, forcing his young friend to shake hands 
 with him at parting. ''In this you have de- 
 ferred to me. In all else, my dearest Henry, 
 you will find me disposed to make your wishes 
 my law."
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 81 
 
 The object of Lord Fareham in obtaining 
 this brief reprieve, was simply to visit the mise- 
 rable localities pointed out to him by De Lisle 
 as the scene of his early misfortunes; and 
 having swallowed a hasty breakfast, he set forth 
 upon his gloomy pilgrimage. 
 
 It was a miserable morning ; much such a 
 one as De Lisle had described in narrating the 
 mcident of their first encounter; and as the 
 young man proceeded on foot along Piccadilly 
 towards the Seven Dials, at an hour when he 
 had never before happened to find himself at 
 that season on the pavement of London, there 
 was little in the dreary objects around him to 
 recal the vivacities of that crowded thorough- 
 fare at a more auspicious season of the year. 
 
 The shop-windows, not yet furnished for the 
 day, were dim with frost. A few miserable 
 hackney-coaches on the stand, and a few huck- 
 ster's carts, had possession of the street; nor 
 was there a single object stirring, to distract the 
 reverie of Lord Fareham, as, wrapped in his 
 
 E 3
 
 82 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 great coat to the chin, and with his hat drawn 
 over his eyes, he turned off from Coventry 
 Street to the wretched spot specified hy Sir 
 James ; — a by-street of the lowest character, to 
 reach which, he was obhged repeatedly to ad- 
 dress himself for information to passengers of a 
 description fuUy to account for the churlish 
 brutality of their replies. 
 
 At length, the gift of a shilling to an urchin 
 sufficiently ragged to justify the alms which 
 he appeared too suUen or too cold to ask, 
 obtained not only a direction, but a guide; 
 — the Httle wretch, hobbling on before, till 
 they reached the junction of the streets de- 
 scribed by Sir James ; at the angle of which, 
 as not unusual in such a neighbourhood, stood a 
 gin-palace, the legitimate successor, in the 
 flashy days of the Gilded Age, to the public 
 house which had vended its British compounds 
 somewhat less ostentatiously, one and twenty 
 years before. 
 
 The transition served only to add to the
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 83 
 
 humiliation of Lord Fareham's reflections ! All 
 that was connected with his wretched infancy 
 seemed to have crumbled away, leaving glare 
 and deception in its room. 
 
 There was no old woman now, seated on the 
 doorstep. But several of a still more disre- 
 putable order were lurking about; and as the 
 grief-struck spectator cast his eyes on the mise- 
 rable surrounding shops — the shave-for-a-penny 
 barber's, — the low eating-house, whose viands 
 must have revolted any but the starving poor, — 
 the broker's, where the objects amassed appeared 
 to consist of broken fragments of furniture and 
 mis-matched jars and vials, — he felt himself to 
 be in the midst of a population below the grade 
 of all he had been hitherto accustomed to con- 
 sider as his fellow-creatures. 
 
 Every sense was offended. A "compound 
 of viUanous smells" reached from every low- 
 hatched door. A succession of unsightly objects 
 greeted him in every direction. The few people 
 stirring at that hour, were wretches galled by
 
 84 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 the miseries of life into ferocity. — ^Mothers 
 screeched threateningly to their straying children. 
 Husbands menaced with their fists the wives 
 who presumed to warn them to their work. 
 And while the heart of Lord Fareham rebelled 
 within him at sight of the inhumanity of these 
 wretches, a secret voice appeared to whisper, 
 " These, these, be thine own people and thy 
 father's house!" 
 
 He was beginning to understand the measure 
 of vengeance dealt upon his infant head by the 
 wretched woman to whom he had been born as 
 a curse, — the aggravation of a long life of labour 
 and woe ; — and after a few moments spent on 
 the spot, the detestation he had conceived against 
 Sir James De Lisle gave place to a milder 
 feeling. It was something to have been re- 
 deemed from the contaminating atmosphere of 
 such a region. It was something to have been 
 snatched from contact with the vile, at a 
 period when association is contagious. To 
 have grown up among such wretches as those
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 85 
 
 he was now gazing upon with loathing, was a 
 destiny which, even with the evil results now 
 awaiting him, he could not be sufficiently thank- 
 fxil for having escaped. 
 
 The consequence, therefore, of this painful 
 and humiliating visit, was a softening of his 
 heart towards the man he had begun to regard 
 as an enemy ; and the journey from London to 
 Holme Court was less painful both to himself 
 and Sir James De Lisle, than had been antici- 
 pated by either. 
 
 By tacit consent, they avoided allusion to all 
 that had recently occurred to create misunder- 
 standing between them. Sir James, though a 
 moderately zealous politician, found no difficulty 
 in affecting eager interest in the great event of 
 the day, the Coalition announced by Mr. Har- 
 bottle Driftington to Lord Fareham, — of which 
 he had heard more than enough, while break- 
 fasting at the Travellers. — It was a safe topic for 
 both. 
 
 "I can scarcely yet believe it to be true,"
 
 86 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 observed Lord Fareham ; " for though I have 
 now been some weeks absent from my — from 
 Lord Arlingham — he has repeatedly written to 
 me — more than once hazarded allusion to the 
 embarrassed position of ministers, — but, never 
 even hinted at this unexpected accession of 
 strength." 
 
 " In my opinion, this strengthens the proba- 
 bility of the report," observed De Lisle. " It is 
 a point on which he would scarcely like to com- 
 mit himself, even to you, while uncertain of the 
 success of his projects. At all events, the ru- 
 mour is too general to be wholly void of 
 foundation; and in the excitement of such a 
 triumph, Lord Arliagham will be less free to 
 note anything unusual in your spirits and de- 
 portment." 
 
 " Thank Heaven, he will also have something 
 to compensate the afflictions in store for him !" 
 sighed Lord Fareham. — "Yet, why do I say 
 so? — His public distinctions were ever subsidiary 
 in his heart to his affection for myself! — From
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 87 
 
 the moment I was able to understand the im- 
 portance of his pursuits and take an interest in 
 his avocations, even his service to his country 
 was strengthened and stimulated by the pros- 
 pects of connecting me, at some future time, 
 with its welfare and glory. Let me not, how- 
 ever, invalidate the purity of his patriotism ! 
 England and the Queen have not a more de- 
 voted servant. But I feel convinced that the 
 incentive to exertion which others find in their 
 vanity or ambition, resulted in him from the 
 hope of creating a great name for his son, 
 and a good son to do it honour.'' 
 
 De Lisle was silent. The filial enthusiasm 
 of his companion was bitterness to his taste. 
 But it was too much his policy to propitiate 
 Lord Fareham, to admit of even a covert sneer 
 at the hollow virtue thus described, — a narrow 
 foundation for so grand a superstructure as 
 patriotic statesmanship ! — He remained silent 
 therefore ; — rejoicing that he had omitted 
 to write excuses previous to his hurried visit
 
 88 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 to London, to two or three country neigh- 
 bours, who had been premusly engaged to 
 spend a few days with him at Holme Court; so 
 that, on arriving, he was sure of the stir and 
 bustle inseparable from such visitations, to re- 
 lieve the gSne of a Ute-a-tdte with one to whom 
 even the most indifferent topic afforded matter 
 for personal application. 
 
 As he expected, his arrival and that of his 
 guests, had been prepared for by his well- 
 ordered establishment. Lights and fires were 
 blazing. One party of his visitors was before- 
 hand with him; and when Lord Fareham and 
 himself made their appearance in the drawing- 
 room, after a hasty change of dress, dinner 
 was on the point of being announced. Sir 
 Edward and Lady Middleton and their daughter 
 Helen, with two neighbouring squires, (the 
 younger of whom, Mr. Sitwell, the member for 
 the neighbouring borough, was understood to 
 be a pretendant to her hand), were awaiting the 
 signal of their host to adjourn to the dining-room.
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 89 
 
 And who that saw it given, — who that heard 
 his well-bred apologies for being late, and wit- 
 nessed his serene suavity of deportment, — could 
 one moment have surmised the scenes of agita- 
 tion and dismay through which that singular 
 man had been struggling for the last eight and 
 forty hours ! 
 
 At all times, as convi\iaI among his neigh- 
 bours as he was measured and reserved among 
 those more closely connected with him. Sir 
 James De Lisle was one of the many who pass 
 for friendly among their acquaintances, and for 
 cold among their friends. On the present occa- 
 sion, the spur of his peculiar position rendered 
 him unusually talkative and sociable ; and the 
 forced spirits he felt himself compelled to bor- 
 row, were borrowed with the recklessness of a 
 spendthrift. Never had he been known so 
 talkative. The table at Holme Court, pro- 
 verbial in the neighbourhood for its brilliancy, 
 surpassed itself. That ancient dining-chamber, 
 which, but two nights before, had echoed to
 
 90 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 the single solemn voice of the man whose story 
 was a story of life and death to its solitary audi- 
 tor, now rang with the chink of glasses, the 
 levity of mirth, and blazed with the lights of 
 festivity. 
 
 Watchful, even in the utmost of his seeming 
 unconcern. Sir James saw with satisfaction that 
 the habitually temperate Lord Fareham was 
 flinging down copious draughts of champagne. 
 Seated beside Helen Middleton, a merry open- 
 hearted country romp, his spirits rose so high, 
 that the gay girl who, having hitherto seen in 
 Sir James's annual guest a taciturn young gen- 
 tleman apparently too proud for their country 
 pleasures, concluding that her smiles must have 
 achieved a conquest, laughed louder and prattled 
 more freely than ever; to the utter dismay 
 of poor Sitwell who, already disgusted as a 
 member of the opposition by the news of the 
 wondrous political triumph of the Earl of Ar- 
 lingham, had very little patience with the sallies 
 of his Lordship's son, or the favour with which
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 91 
 
 they were rewarded by the volatile lady of his 
 love. 
 
 So hollow is half the mirth by which we are 
 stunned amid the scenes of social life! — The 
 gaiety of the young Lord, the cheerful hospita- 
 lity of his host, were false as the vizards of a 
 masquerade ; and of the seven personages who 
 retired to rest that night under the ancient roof 
 of Holme Court, not one but had been acting a 
 part: — Sitwell, to disguise his jealousy, — his 
 muzzy brother squire to appear as sober as a 
 judge, — the Middletons to conceal their satisfac- 
 tion at the evident admiration of the heir of 
 Fareham Castle for their pretty daughter, — Sir 
 James De Lisle to hide his feelings of triumph, — 
 Lord Fareham, his agony of despair ! —
 
 92 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 As the morning steals upon the night 
 Melting the darkness, so their rising senses 
 Begin to chase the ignorant fumes that mantle 
 Their clearer reason. 
 
 SHAKSPEARE. 
 
 When the triflers of the London world have 
 been playing fantastic tricks overnight under 
 the influence of champagne, before they meet 
 again, their love or hatred has been tamed 
 down by the lapse of a certain number of 
 hours, and intervention of a considerable variety 
 of personages. 
 
 But when people under the same circum- 
 stances are collected within the walls of a 
 country house, their re-encounter on the mor- 
 row at breakfast affords a curious study for the 
 sober ones of the party. 
 
 As the little group gradually re-collected
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 93 
 
 itself in the old dining-room at Holme Court 
 the following day, round an ample breakfast 
 table, it was amusing enough to watch the 
 air of pretended listlessness with which the 
 country coquette wore the gay ribbons pur- 
 porting to captivate the heir of an earldom ; 
 or the zeal with which her father and mother 
 addressed themselves to their coffee and par- 
 tridge pie, in order not to embarrass Lord 
 Fareham by their scrutiny, when he proceeded 
 to take the place pui-posely left vacant by he^ 
 side. — Still more diverting was the suppressed 
 indignation which twitched in the abrupt move- 
 ments of the discomfited Squire, thrown doubly 
 into the minority by the triumphs of the house 
 of Arlingham ! If the merriment of the others 
 had been exaggerated overnight under the ex- 
 hilarating influence of sparkling Ay, the forced 
 laughter of poor Sitwell over his tea, while 
 awaiting the entrance of Lord Fareham to 
 renew his assiduities to Helen Middleton, was 
 almost hysterical.
 
 94 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 Still, however, his Lordship came not. The 
 Middletons cast sidelong glances at the door, 
 when the old butler brought in a rechaud of 
 cutlets, or the footman a reinforcement of 
 crumpets; while poor Sitwell ran considerable 
 hazard of a dislocation of the vertebrae, by the 
 obstinacy with which he kept his eyes upon his 
 plate, while furtively watching the movements 
 of his treacherous fair one. 
 
 Still, Lord Fareham came not ; and just 
 before the conclusion of breakfast, the only 
 person present to whom his comings and 
 goings were a matter of unconcern, (the muzzy 
 Squire, whose faculties had been too com- 
 pletely offuscated by champagne the preceding 
 evening, to note what was going on among 
 his friends,) — carelessly observed — 
 
 " Lord Fareham will succeed to cold tea, Tm 
 afraid ! — I should not have expected him to be 
 the latest of the party." 
 
 "On the contrary, he was the earliest" 
 replied Sir James De Lisle, apparently as un-
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 95 
 
 concerned as his interlocutor. " Fareham was 
 off a couple of hours ago." 
 
 " Off^'' — ejaculated such of those present as 
 could command their powers of utterance. 
 
 "I thought he was here for the remainder 
 of the week ?" — observed Sir Edward Middleton, 
 with an air of indifference. 
 
 " Oh ! dear no, papa," stammered his 
 daughter, unwilling to let it be supposed she 
 was startled by the movements of one with 
 whom she had talked on such confidential terms 
 the preceding night ; while poor Sitwell looked 
 doubtful whether to rejoice at the absence of 
 his rival, or resent the confidence reposed in 
 the blushing Helen. 
 
 " I was not prepared for quite so abrupt a 
 departure !" observed Sir James De Lisle, pre- 
 tending to fix his attention on the newspaper 
 he was folding. " Fareham is seldom in a 
 hurry to leave me. But a letter by this morn- 
 ing's post, required his immediate presence at 
 Fareham Castle."
 
 96 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 "Ay, ay ! — they have a large party staying 
 there, I know," observed the muzzy Squire, 
 who, in the absence of soda water, had been 
 cooling his fever with a fourth cup of green 
 tea. "My friend Jakes, who keeps the Ar- 
 lingham hounds, wrote me word he expected 
 a famous meet, in consequence of the party at 
 Fareham." 
 
 " I fear he will be disappointed," replied De 
 Lisle; "for it is of a grave character, — a 
 political party. — Few sportsmen among them, I 
 imagine. — It was in consequence, indeed, of its 
 sober nature, that Fareham fancied he might be 
 spared a day or two longer. The attractions of 
 our httle circle here, would probably have made 
 a few days at Holme Court peculiarly accept- 
 able !" he continued, to the great delight of his 
 half-giggling, half-blushing guest. " But Lord 
 Arlingham's summons must have been pretty 
 peremptory ; for at eight this morning, half an 
 hour after the arrival of the post, Fareham was 
 at my bedside, asking indulgence for his sudden
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 97 
 
 departure, and with post-horses already at the 
 door." 
 
 " I should not be surprised," cried the muzzy 
 Squire, giving utterance to the thought which 
 suggested itself to every person present, — 
 " if his father's letter had announced this 
 Coalition business, of which all the morning 
 papers seem so ftdl." 
 
 " If the papers are full of it, surely it is some- 
 what late in the day to communicate the state 
 secret to his only son !" sneered poor Sitwell. 
 " More likely, the lion wishes to assign to his 
 whelp a portion of the spoil obtained by his 
 intrigues. The sucking politician will probably 
 get his share in the general scuffle." 
 
 " There is scarcely any post to which Lord 
 Fareham's abilitiea are not calculated to do 
 honour," observed Sir James De Lisle, stiffly ; 
 " for he is one of the most rising young men of 
 the day. But I fancy his business at home is 
 of a domestic nature. My young friend has a 
 stronger leaning towards the duties of private 
 
 VOL. I. F
 
 98 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 than of public life. Shall we move into the 
 drawing-room, or is any one inclined for bil- 
 liards ?" — added he, rising, and satisfied that the 
 explosion of the shell thus skilfully thrown 
 would divert the attention of all present from 
 his own vexation at the escape of his guest. 
 
 For an escape it indisputably was. Though 
 Lord Fareham had really placed in his hands 
 the letter of the Earl, requesting his immediate 
 presence at the Castle in terms that admitted 
 of no hesitation, so tortuous were the wind- 
 ings of his own mind, that he instantly decided 
 the summons to be the result of a letter, re- 
 questing such a mandate, addressed by the 
 young Lord to his father ere he quitted London 
 the preceding day. De Lisle felt convinced that 
 Henry had bespoken his sudden recall ; and as 
 the cross-post rendered such a complication of 
 manoeuvres possible, gave no faith to his expres- 
 sions of anxiety lest aught should be amiss at 
 Fareham Castle. 
 
 Nevertheless, nothing could be more sincere.
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 99 
 
 So methodical and consistent were the habits of 
 the Earl of Arlingham, that the apparent 
 caprice of recalling his son a few days sooner 
 than the period originally assigned for his 
 return, sufficed to excite the fears of one accus- 
 tomed to his far-sighted regularity ; and though, 
 throughout his journey homewards, the reflec- 
 tions of the yo\ing man were painfully retrogres- 
 sive, he was sufficiently uneasy on his father's 
 account to lose sight, at times, even of his 
 peculiar position. 
 
 " If my father should be ill — if my father 
 should be in any strait as regards this strange 
 Coalition?" mused he: — Lord Arlingham, his 
 comfort and safety being in peril, presenting 
 himself to his thoughts, or rather to his lips 
 (for the first time since the disclosure of that 
 hateful mystery) under the tender name of 
 " father !" — " Considering the coarse observa- 
 tions which that vulgar fellow, Sitwell, hazarded 
 last night, under the influence of wine till I 
 was forced to call him to order, it is not im- 
 
 F 2
 
 100 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 probable that some more responsible opposition 
 member may have ventured upon observations 
 requiring still more serious retribution. The 
 career of a public man, — even when venerated 
 as my father, — is always open to such hazards. 
 But why, why did this never strike me so 
 strongly before ?— Alas ! now that the tie which 
 unites us is on the eve of being rent asunder, 
 it seems to acquire double value ! — No ! — I 
 never loved him so truly as since the hateful 
 discovery that I am not his son !" 
 
 As he drew towards the close of his short 
 journey of thirty miles, and caught sight of the 
 flag usually hoisted at the Castle, during the 
 residence of the Earl, his heart throbbed with 
 anxiety, and he felt impressed with a new 
 sense of the grandeur and dignity of the place. 
 How little less than princely were its towers ! 
 — How authoritative and predominant its posi- 
 tion, both physical and moral ! How reverently 
 were the hats of grave men and old touched to 
 him as he drew towards home, by those who
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 101 
 
 respected him only as "the son of the Earl 
 of Arlingham !" — How fondly did the young 
 children run to the cottage doors, to gaze upon 
 a carriage honoured by the armorial escutcheon 
 of the unfailing friend of the poor ! — 
 
 A sigh of relief escaped his heart as he 
 passed under the old turreted gateway, and in 
 reply to his hurried interrogation to the venera- 
 ble porter, received an assurance that all was 
 well at the castle, and " My Lord just gone out 
 riding with his Grace the Duke of Hythe, Lord 
 Finland, and the other gentlemen staying in 
 the house ;" — an announcement affording double 
 comfort, in the certitude of his father's health, 
 and of a short respite previous to their dreaded 
 interview. 
 
 According to the customs of the castle, the 
 Earl would most likely return towards dusk ; 
 and thus, they would meet with less chance of 
 exposure on his own part of the emotions which, 
 the more he strove to repress them, the more tho- 
 roughly defied his power of control.
 
 102 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 He had not, however, been half an hour alone 
 in the state apartments, — left to the survey and 
 influence of all from which he must shortly 
 disunite himself for ever — before he longed for 
 the return of the party. Any thing were 
 welcome that broke the spell of that terrible 
 contemplation ! — Seizing his hat and cloak, he 
 rushed from the house; then, unwilling to be far 
 absent at the moment of Lord Arlingham's 
 arrival, pursued his way along a terrace flanking 
 the northern rampart of the castle ; which pre- 
 sented at that season so bleak and cheerless a 
 promenade, as always to be deserted in winter 
 time. There, he was sure of solitude. There he 
 might contemplate' undisturbed the dreary land- 
 scape and stormy wintry sky so congenial with 
 his perturbed feelings. 
 
 A year had scarcely elapsed since he remem- 
 bered having betaken himself to the same spot, 
 for the recomposure of his spirit, while awaiting 
 the answer of his father to his application for 
 permission to pay his addresses to Lady Evelyn
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 103 
 
 Lorn. On that occasion, the issue had been 
 favourable, how favourable to his hopes ! Folded 
 to the bosom of his father on his return to the 
 house, he had received, not only the sanction, 
 but the thanks of the Earl, for the worthiness of 
 his choice. 
 
 " I know not, my dear boy," said Lord 
 Arlingham, " that I should have found courage 
 to oppose you, had you proposed a daughter-in- 
 law less suited to my taste ; but in this, as in all 
 else, you have exceeded my fondest hopes; 
 Could I have chosen a wife for you throughout 
 England, one of my old friend Clantullin's 
 daughters would have been the object of my 
 preference." 
 
 And when, in consequence of the precarious 
 state of the only and beloved sister to whom 
 the attentions of Lady Evelyn Lorn were devoted, 
 it was agreed that the marriage should be deferred 
 till spring. Lord Arlingham appeared almost as 
 disappointed as his son. During Lord Fare- 
 ham's recent visit to the family at Brighton,
 
 104 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 Lady Evelyn had often jestingly remarked that 
 his compliments and attentions were far less 
 lover-like than those of the Earl. 
 
 Such recollections and such reminiscences 
 were not of a nature to raise his spirits ; and by 
 the time he discerned the party of horsemen wind- 
 ing their way up the hill towards the old gate- 
 way, he felt utterly benumbed in soul and body, 
 in place of the re-invigoration he had ex- 
 pected to derive from contact with the winter 
 breeze. It was some comfort that, though the 
 greater number of their Christmas guests were 
 only to arrive on the morrow% his father was 
 accompanied not only by the Duke of Hythe and 
 his shrewd private secretary, Mr. Wilson Cringe, 
 but by his son. Lord Thomas Aymer, and the 
 Earl of Finland, one of the stiffest and coldest, 
 but ablest of his political colleagues. No fear of 
 a private interview for the present ! — He was 
 evidently only wanted at the castle to assist in 
 entertaining its guests. 
 
 Another minute, and he was welcomed home
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 105 
 
 by them all, as though it were their cue to 
 do the honours of Fareham Castle ; while Lord 
 Arlingham, delighted to witness the cordiality 
 of the elder men of the party towai'ds his son, 
 satisfied his paternal affection, a Vanglaise, with 
 a quiet shake of the hand. 
 
 " My friend Arlingham has had some diffi- 
 culty, it seems, in bringing back his stray sheep to 
 the fold ?" said the Duke, as they walked toge- 
 ther into the library to await the dressing* 
 bell. " We wanted you, yesterday, my dear 
 Lord ; but you could not tear yourself from 
 Brighton, eh ? — ^Well ! we have all been young in 
 our time ! — At all events, your absence enabled 
 your father to favour us with your panegyric, in 
 terms of which I will spare your modesty the 
 repetition I Tom has been sulky ever since. 
 Tom fancies it was a got up thing ; and that I 
 wanted to put his idleness and extravagance to 
 the blush, by praises of your industry." 
 
 " Fareham knows better than to believe all 
 this !" — cried Lord Thomas Aymer, laughing. 
 
 F 3
 
 106 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 " Fareham is perfectly aware that I am the 
 model young man of my day ; — that I have pro- 
 posed to every heiress going ; — and never set foot 
 on the turf, till I had nothing left to lose by it, 
 having been cleaned out of my last guinea else- 
 where." 
 
 " I trust / know better than to believe all 
 this r replied the Duke ; who, sufficiently stern 
 with the rest of the world, allowed himself to be 
 a little over-indulgent towards the extravagant 
 sallies of his favourite son. " I am willing to 
 suppose you a little less contemptible than you 
 represent yourself; and, (if that wiU give you 
 any comfort) to suppose that my friend Arling- 
 ham's paternal partiality, is almost as blind as my 
 own." 
 
 Cheerful and chatty was the dinner that en- 
 sued. Politics were discussed in the tone of 
 men of the world, — not with the priggism 
 affected by the stilted sect of modern politicians 
 — the " young England," whose beard and 
 whiskers have not yet sprouted ; while the
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 107 
 
 gossip of the world had its turn ; discussed in 
 the tone of responsible men, who perceive with 
 regret the growth of follies and vices in the 
 few, which, if extended to the many, would be 
 fatal to the best interests of the kingdom. 
 
 When, on the withdrawal of the servants with 
 the ice-course. Lord Finland and the Duke pro- 
 ceeded to an exposition of their plans for the 
 opening political campaign, with Mr. Wilson 
 Cringe as their draughtsman and engineer, 
 Lord Fareham, instead of emulating the air of 
 undisguised ennui with which Lord Thomas 
 Aymer listened to the recapitulation of majori- 
 ties and minorities, — the disposal of such and 
 such boroughs, — the actuations of such and such 
 a member's mind — all the hidden machinery, 
 in short, whose paltry levers and pullies are 
 essential to the grander movements of states- 
 manship, — sat with respectful deference, replying 
 only in monosyllables to the bantering gossip 
 with which Lord Thomas strove to divert his 
 attention.
 
 108 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 " When you have served your time, as I have, 
 in the back -slums of politics," whispered Lord 
 Thomas, " you will be as sick of all this sort of 
 thing as I am ! Leave it to poor Cringe, who 
 is paid for it, to put on a decent listening face, 
 when my father sets in for a prose. In all 
 honesty, you know that your thoughts are a 
 thousand miles hence 1" — 
 
 Lord Fareham could not deny it. But he 
 might have asserted, with truth, that he was 
 doing his utmost to reduce to order the chaos 
 in which they were plunged, in order to give 
 his attention to points involving, or likely to 
 involve, the public credit of Lord Arlingham. 
 Moreover, the private secretary of the Earl 
 remaining in town for dispatch of business, 
 during the absence of his principal, he was 
 desirous of qualifying himself to lend such as- 
 sistance, on the spur of the occasion, as Lord 
 Arlingham might require from his pen. 
 
 The Earl required, however, far more than 
 his utmost surmises had suggested ! —
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 109 
 
 " I sent for you, my dear Fareham," said he, 
 the first moment he was able to disencumber 
 himself of his guests, and command time for 
 a private audience, "to confirm the desultory 
 reports you must have heard at Brighton, and 
 which the nature of my party here supersedes 
 perhaps the necessity of my announcing ; namely, 
 the valuable accession of strength which govern- 
 ment has recentlj; obtained. To you, I need not 
 add that it has been obtained without dis- 
 creditable sacrifices on either side ; but through 
 a mutual modification of opinion, produced by 
 the march and changes of the times. But I 
 may, and must add, my dear Fareham, that the 
 resignations consequent upon this Coalition, 
 (through the pettish irritation of men who 
 assume as steadiness of principle what is, in 
 fact, the result of irritation of temper), have 
 opened an unexpected way for your entrance 
 into public life. Some time ago, it was my 
 wish that you should not come into parliament for 
 a year or two. Events, public and domestic, have
 
 110 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 altered my intentions. Your purposed settlement 
 in life inclines me to believe that you will be all 
 the happier for active employment. Your 
 character has developed itself at an earlier age 
 than I anticipated. In short, my dear boy, 
 there is a seat waiting for you; and both the 
 Duke and myself have decided that, towards 
 the close of the session, when our new system 
 has worked itself easy, a vacancy shall be made 
 for you in the Home Department. — His Grace 
 wishes to have you as his Under Secretary." 
 
 During this communication. Lord Fareham 
 felt as if becoming gradually transfixed into 
 marble ; while Lord Arlingham, attributing the 
 emotion by which his son was thus manifestly 
 overwhelmed to the gratifying nature of his 
 communication, almost regretted to perceive 
 how thoroughly he could be unmanned by ex- 
 trinsic circumstances. He had hoped to find 
 him made of " sterner stuff." He had hoped 
 to see him rise superior to the casualties of life. 
 
 After waiting a minute or two for the reply
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 1 1 I 
 
 which the young man could not command 
 breath to utter, Lord Arlmgham resumed, in a 
 tone of less elation. 
 
 " I am satisfied that my friend Lord Clan- 
 tullin wiU be the more likely to accelerate the 
 period of your marriage," said he, " on finding 
 you about to embark in the business of hfe. 
 Though he ascribed his desire of procrastination 
 solely to Lady Mary's illness, I suspect he con- 
 sidered you somewhat young to establish your- 
 self, without occupation for your leisure tp 
 secure the steadiness of conduct desirable in a 
 family man. When he sees you exert yourself 
 in parliament, and knows you to be secure of 
 a responsible appointment, he will be less ner- 
 vous about intrusting you with the happiness 
 of his child." 
 
 Still, Lord Fareham answered not a word ; 
 and the Earl was almost silenced, in his turn, 
 by this ungracious apathy. He had touched 
 two of the most vibrant chords of the human 
 heart, — love and ambition ; yet the lips of his
 
 112 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 son emitted no sound of sympathy. He heard, 
 and made no sign ! 
 
 " I cannot suppose, my dear Fareham," added 
 Lord Arlingham, in a more earnest tone, " that 
 you are insensible to the flattering distinction 
 you have, in this instance, received at the hands 
 of the Duke. For you know enough of his 
 character and disposition to be aware that, were 
 you fifty times my son, and he considered you 
 disqualified either in talents or disposition for 
 the service of the country, nothing would in- 
 duce him to sanction, far less suggest, your 
 appointment. My own partiality might have 
 done much for you ; and for that I should not 
 have required you to be grateful. But this is 
 wholly his Grace's doing ; and I hope and 
 trust to find you properly sensible of so great 
 an honour." 
 
 " I am sensible, more deeply sensible than 
 you can possibly suppose," faltered Lord Fareham 
 with quivering lips ; " sensible at once of his 
 unmerited favour, my dearest father, and of
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 113 
 
 your considerate aifection. But may I inquire," 
 continued he, his agitation increased by the en- 
 dearing term which emotion had forced from 
 his hps, " whether it be indispensable to give an 
 immediate reply to the proposition of his Grace? 
 You spoke of the end of the session. Is it 
 necessary, for some weeks to come, to fetter 
 myself and you by accepting the appointment ?" 
 
 " Accepting the appointment ?" — exclaimed 
 Lord Arlingham, scarcely fancying he heard 
 aright, so impossible did it appear to him for 
 such an alternative as refusal to present itself. 
 " You do not mean to say, that you are 
 disposed to hesitate ?" — 
 
 " Circumstances," resumed the young man, 
 " circumstances over which I have no control, 
 compel me to pause before — ^before , I entangle 
 myself in — " 
 
 Lord Arlingham rose from his seat, and 
 fixed his eyes, with amazement, on his son ; who, 
 feeling that under such scrutiny he must give 
 way, if closely questioned, and perhaps, forfeit his
 
 114 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 word of honour pledged to De Lisle, attempted, 
 for the first time in his life, a subterfuge with 
 his father. 
 
 " Previous to taking so irretrievable a step 
 as the public manifestation of my political 
 principles," said he, "I should like to pause 
 for reflection." 
 
 " To pause for reflection ?" — ^reiterated Lord 
 Arlingham, surprise and indignation struggling 
 for mastery. " Has my care of your education, 
 then, been so thoroughly thrown away, and is 
 your deference towards your father of so slight 
 a nature, that, at the eleventh hour, you have 
 still to learn to distinguish your right hand 
 from your left? — Still to ask yourself whether 
 your father's career has been founded on just 
 and equitable principles ? Fareham 1 — you have 
 grieved and disappointed me beyond all power 
 of expression !" — 
 
 A vivid flush overspread the cheeks of 
 the young man, thus apostrophized, — giving 
 way immediately to livid paleness. His
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 115 
 
 heart revolted within him at the bitterness 
 of these first fruits of his lamentable situa- 
 tion. 
 
 " That I should have so completely mistaken 
 you, all this time !" again ejaculated the Earl, 
 unable to repress his feelings on perceiving, by 
 the agitation of his son, that his conduct was 
 not actuated by youthful caprice, but by some 
 deep seated motive. " I thought your heart 
 open to me, as mine has ever been to you. 
 From the moment you were able to distinguish 
 right from wrong, I have never had a conceal- 
 ment from you as regards my private affairs. 
 Even my public interests have been as freely 
 confided to you, as though your views and 
 opinions were, as you gave me reason to hope, 
 identical with my own. In this conviction — 
 in the belief that the spirit actuating your con- 
 duct was as congenial with mine as the blood 
 flowing in your veins, — I have all but pledged 
 myself to the Duke for your adherence to the 
 administration we are forming !"
 
 116 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 " I fear I cannot flatter myself/' stammered 
 Lord Fareham, struck with despair as the seem- 
 ingly ungrateful part he was compelled to take 
 developed itself before him, — " I fear I cannot 
 flatter myself that my single voice will be of 
 much consequence in his Grace's eyes. It is 
 impossible that he can extend towards me the 
 generous partiality which " 
 
 " Fareham ! these are mere specious phrases!" 
 cried Lord Arlingham, with indignation. " This 
 is the first time in your life I ever heard you 
 utter a word I felt to be dishonest. You are 
 deceiving me or deceiving yourself Who has 
 wrought me such an injury as to estrange from 
 me the heart and confidence of my son, I will 
 not stoop to inquire. It cannot be De Lisle, 
 your fond and faithful mother's nearest kinsman. 
 His views, are my own. In public life, as 
 in private, we have walked hand in hand. — 
 Next to myself, he is the person on earth, most 
 interested in your weU-doing ; and it wiH afl'ord 
 him almost as much mortification, as it does
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 117 
 
 me, to find your character so much less candid 
 than we had supposed." 
 
 " I have no right to be surprised that you 
 judge me thus harshly !" said Lord Fareham, 
 his tongue cleaving to his palate, as he shrunk 
 under the contemptuous eye never before bent 
 upon him, save with the expression of affection 
 and approval. " If you knew, however, how 
 miserably I am entangled, you would pity, 
 rather than condemn me." 
 
 " Entangled?'' exclaimed Lord Arlingham, 
 almost gasping for breath. " This is becom- 
 ing more and more alarming ! — In God's name, 
 what do you mean? — How long is it that 1 
 have lost over you the authority of a father ? 
 With what mysterious — what unreasonable con- 
 nections have you degraded yourself, to render 
 concealment necessary? — ^The Clantullins are 
 truth and daylight. It is not among them 
 you have learned the lesson of deceit !" 
 
 " I have not learned it !" cried Lord Fare- 
 ham, proudly. " I have at least, no hypocrisy
 
 118 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 to be ashamed of. It is because I choose to 
 be frank with you, that I am forced, my Lord, 
 to give you pain and displeasure; I must 
 content myself to abide both, because, without 
 forfeiting a solemn pledge, I cannot, at this 
 moment, explain myself further. When here- 
 after you learn the motives of my conduct, I 
 am convinced you will approve them." 
 
 There was something so decided and manly 
 in the deportment of the young man, whom 
 the accusation of hypocrisy had suddenly 
 roused to a sense of his own dignity, that 
 the angry feelings of the Earl involuntarily 
 relaxed as he contemplated the countenance, 
 replete with sensibility, which contained all the 
 sunshine of his life. 
 
 " I do not ask you for a full explanation of 
 your strange conduct, Harry !" said he. " If, 
 by some unlucky concatenation of circumstances 
 you are forced to maintain concealments from 
 me, I submit; — satisfied that your affection 
 will shorten my penance of suspense as far as
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 119 
 
 lies in your power. — But it would cut me to 
 the soul were my new colleagues to perceive 
 that I do not possess so much as the political 
 confidence of my son. How can I expect to 
 command their respect, when yours has escaped 
 me?" 
 
 "It has not escaped you, my dearest and 
 best friend !" — cried Lord Fareham, seizing his 
 hand with uncontrollable emotion, and pressing 
 it to his lips. " Dictate what terms to me you 
 
 wiur— 
 
 " All I require is that you give the party now 
 assembled around us, no cause to infer the exis- 
 tence of dissension between us. Leave it to 
 me to raise obstacles to your immediate ac- 
 ceptance of office. But do not afford grounds 
 to my friends and colleagues for supposing that 
 I have reared a changeHng as my son." 
 
 The expression thus vaguely and accidentally 
 used, drove every vestige of colour from the 
 face of the young man ; and he sat gazing upon 
 the Earl, (who, after pacing the room during
 
 120 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 the more stormy portions of their dialogue, had 
 stopped short, and was leaning on the opposite 
 table), with an air of idiotic stupefaction. 
 
 " Certainly ! — Every thing you wish ! — Dis- 
 pose of me as you choose. — I shall attempt no 
 further opposition !" said he, with blanched 
 and quivering lips ; — then, hurrying from the 
 room, to escape the more kindly expressions 
 beginning to flow from those of Lord Arling- 
 ham in gratitude for this marked concession to 
 his wishes, he hastened to his own apartment. 
 There, throwing himself prostrate on the ground, 
 he besought the mercy of Heaven for strength to 
 support the conflicting distresses of his unex- 
 ampled situation.
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 121 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 A fellow, who 
 Having been praised for bluntness, doth affect 
 A saucy roughness. 
 
 SHAKSPEARE. 
 
 It was a lucky thing, perhaps, for all parties, 
 that Fareham Castle was about to become what 
 the newspapers call " the scene of noble old 
 English hospitality" for the remainder of the 
 holidays. — ^The first few days having been se- 
 cured by the Earl for the development and 
 completion of his political projects, it only 
 further remained for him to render his house 
 agreeable to those with whom he trusted to 
 enjoy, for the remainder of his days, the sort of 
 friendship which is never so strongly cemented 
 in England as by the bonds of political asso- 
 
 VOL. I, G
 
 122 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 elation; and which, strangely enough, seemed 
 to derive new force in the present instance 
 from the former bitter animosities of the new 
 co-adjutors. 
 
 Such appears to be the order of the age. 
 — Of late years, public events have been 
 taught to march with such colossal strides, that 
 no human mind appears sufficiently, far-sighted 
 to foresee the future combinations by which 
 they are likely to influence the destinies of 
 nations. — The consequence is that, instead of 
 the hereditary Whig and Toryism bequeathed 
 from sire to son with the family liveries and 
 armorial bearings, — so far from the political 
 father entailing his principles upon his son, the 
 boy is not even the father to the man, or the 
 man to the veteran. Exaggeration and incon- 
 sistency being inseparable, extremes are apt to 
 meet ; — and it is an undeniable fact that most 
 of the absolutists of the day, began life with the 
 most liberal opinions. In proportion as the 
 sinews of their minds have grown stiff, and the
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 123 
 
 muscles of their hearts become ossified, have 
 they renounced the faith that was in them; 
 become sceptics as regards the perfectibility of 
 human nature, and among the first to inflict 
 the lash and collar of bondage upon those to 
 whom they were the first to point out the 
 blessings of liberty. — Nay, more than one 
 among them, (like confederates tiu-ned Queen's 
 evidence), have profited by their intimate know- 
 ledge of the haunts and habits of their former 
 associates, to betray them to the hands of the 
 enemy. The Duke of Hythe, if not exactly 
 one of these, was undeniably an apostate; 
 though by the vehemence of his eaiiy political 
 demonstrations, he had appeared to abjure all 
 right and title to recantation. 
 
 Such was the eminence, however, of his 
 social position, and such the candour of his 
 character, that those who knew him best were 
 satisfied of his having acted from conviction. 
 But if no one else mistrusted him, he mis- 
 trusted himself. The thirty pieces of silver 
 
 G 2
 
 124 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 rattling in his pouch, seemed to convert him 
 into a Judas ; and in order to show his indif- 
 ference, under the shower of missiles which he 
 every moment expected to find hurled at his 
 head by the party to which he was accused of 
 turning traitor, he overacted his part of reck- 
 lessness, and assumed such flighty spirits to 
 greet the fashionable circle arriving at the 
 Castle, (persons less fully apprised than his 
 excellent host, of the gradual and steady nature 
 of his change of views) that he might have 
 been supposed to have taken a page from the 
 books of his son. Those who came prepared 
 for a somewhat stiff party, in compliment to 
 the grave habits of the Duke, were accordingly 
 amazed to find him the most talkative of the 
 set. 
 
 Unluckily, all persons who affect forced 
 spirits, have need of a butt; and as happy 
 lovers have, from time immemorial, been made 
 to pay tax for their felicity as pri\aleged objects 
 of raillery, the Duke seized upon Lord Fare-
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 125 
 
 ham to whet his wit upon. Young, prosperous, 
 cheerful — there seemed some reason for exact- 
 ing such a penalty at his hands ; and every time 
 the conversation flagged among his colleagues. 
 Lord Arlingham had the vexation of hearing 
 his son roughly bantered as the new member — 
 the future secretary — the uxorious bridegroom — 
 the rising young man of the day who was to 
 put them all to shame. — 
 
 " Wait till you have tried him !" cried Lord 
 Thomas Aymer, addressing his father, intent 
 only upon increasing his embarrassment. " I 
 can promise you that, as squeamish as he looks, 
 Fareham has heard the chimes at midnight 
 before now, — eh, Fareham ? — So far from being 
 the Industrious Apprentice you wish to make 
 him out, your Grace would be edified indeed, 
 were I at liberty to let his Christchurch secrets 
 out of the bag." 
 
 ,Lord Arlingham was startled. Were these 
 random accusations about to afford him a clue 
 to the mystery at present so unsearchable ?
 
 126 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 " If Lady Evelyn Lorn could only guess with 
 what a cinder of a heart she has to deal !" per- 
 sisted Lord Thomas. " The scoriae of a volcano 
 are substantial by comparison ! Let her only 
 listen to Harbottle Driftington's account of his 
 behaviour in the family of Lady Hester Hope. 
 If they did but know the hazard they run in 
 postponing the marriage! — I would bet my allow- 
 ance for the next two years (were not every 
 guinea pledged to my creditors) that the match 
 never comes to pass, unless nailed within the 
 next three weeks !'' 
 
 All this was the mere flash-in-the-pan of 
 fashionable persiflage, — the nothing , which, iif 
 the absence of something, serves to secure a 
 dinner party from the disgrace of a dead 
 silence. But Lord Fareham, susceptible in every 
 fibre, fancied that the noisy raillery of the 
 Duke and the pointed allusions of his son had 
 a firmer foundation. A suspicion that the facts 
 communicated to him by Sir James De Lisle, 
 had, in some mysterious mode or other, tran-
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 127 
 
 spired, glanced into his mind ; and like a bayed 
 stag, he became fierce and dangerous. 
 
 Amused, rather than annoyed, by what he 
 estimated as the pettishness of a man who will 
 not take his turn in being quizzed. Lord - 
 Thomas returned to the charge; and with so 
 little discretion, that most of the party present, 
 perceiving Lord Fareham to be really offended, 
 thought he was going too far. So angry, in- 
 deed, grew the retorts of the over-urged young 
 man, that, in the course of the evening, for the 
 first time in his life. Lord Arlingham rebuked 
 him for want of temper and want of self- 
 respect. 
 
 " There cannot be a greater sign of an ill- 
 born, ill-bred man," said he, "than to resent 
 the pleasantries of the convivial hour. I should 
 have hoped that a son of mine knew how to 
 take as well as give, especially at my own table. 
 You will make a bad member of the House of 
 Commons, Fareham, if you cannot submit to be 
 joked with."
 
 128 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 That these sorry jests were bitter earnest to 
 the unfortunate victim, how was Lord Arling- 
 ham to surmise ? — How could he suppose that 
 what he mistook for tetchy pee^dshness, was 
 the irrepressible outcry of despair ? — 
 
 Unluckily, jesters, like children, are prompt 
 in perceiving how far their pranks are au- 
 thorised by those present. Lord Thomas 
 Aymer, readily discerning that the fractiousness 
 of his young friend was not backed by the 
 Ear], on the morrow, his ill-timed pleasantries 
 were renewed ; for though true wit disdains to 
 have recourse to the poor expedient of a butt, 
 the shallow joker who finds a dull party hang 
 heavily on his hands, finds such a flint to his 
 steel an invaluable resource. 
 
 " By the way, my dear Fareham," said he, 
 " what is this story of Driftington's about finding 
 you locked up in a room at the Clarendon, and 
 your nearly knocking him down, because he 
 offered to walk home with you ? Aware of my 
 being Lord Arlingham's guest, he writes to me
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 129 
 
 from Queen's Clere to inquire, in Miss Hope's 
 name and his own, whether you have been 
 picked out of the moat, or found dangling in 
 one of your Gothic galleries, as he seemed to 
 infer from the state of 
 
 Moody madness laughing wild 
 Amid severest woe 
 
 in which he left you, a few days ago, in Berke- 
 ley Square?" 
 
 " I should be almost as glad that Mr. Drif- 
 tington found some better topic for his corres- 
 pondence than my affairs, as that your Lordship 
 found some better subject than his impertinence 
 to amuse the present company!" said Lord 
 Fareham with grave indignation. 
 
 " Impertinence, and my Lordship, coupled in a 
 single sentence?" cried Lord Thomas un- 
 abashed ; " since when, my dear fellow, have 
 you grown so snappish ? — or rather, since when 
 so great a man, as to be tabooed against the 
 joking of your friends?" — 
 
 G 3
 
 130 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 " I must decline the honour of considering 
 Mr. Driftington a friend of mine !" cried Lord 
 Fareham ; " and since it appears — " 
 
 He stopped short. The eye of Lord Arling- 
 ham was fixed sternly and reprovingly upon 
 him. He had promised the Earl that morning 
 to control his temper, and bear patiently with 
 the indiscreet badgering of the son of their dis- 
 tinguished guest. 
 
 " Let not the small remnant of my sojourn 
 under his roof be disgraced by a brawl of my 
 provoking !" was the painful reflection of the 
 young Lord, as he now witnessed the renewed 
 anxiety of him to whom he would fain have 
 spared even the most trifling occasion for un- 
 easiness. And to the surprise of all present, 
 during the remainder of the day, he bore in 
 enforced silence the ironical compliments of 
 Lord Thomas Aymer, and with patience the 
 more searching irony of his father. 
 
 The latter, however, was not a purposeless 
 persecution. Regarding the talented son of his
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 131 
 
 colleague as a valuable accession to their party, 
 the Duke of Hythe was desirous of ascertaining 
 how far he rose superior to the ordinary weak- 
 ness of boy-members, — how far he was " pas* 
 sion's slave," and consequently how far his own 
 master ; and the ordeal which, in the beginning, 
 promised ill for the credit of Lord Fareham's 
 temper, ended with establishing him high in 
 favour with the Duke. Clever as he was, the 
 statesman had not the tact to discriminate 
 between the firmness of self-government, and 
 the self-abandonment of despair. 
 
 But in proportion as his estimation of his 
 political neophyte increased, was his own in- 
 fluence over the mind of Lord Fareham aug- 
 mented. The moment the young Lord became 
 established in his eyes as a man — an agent — an 
 influence — a component part of the mighty en- 
 gine of state called Power, — he became worth 
 conciliating. Since he could bear being joked 
 with, the Duke ceased to joke with him ; and, 
 by raising him to his own level, and engaging
 
 132 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 with him in those profound and luminous argu- 
 ments apt to inspire aU with whom he was at 
 the trouble of conversing, with almost abject 
 deference, made him wholly his own. 
 
 Unperceived by Lord Fareham, a web was 
 thrown around him by the specious manner in 
 which the Duke now addressed him as one of 
 them, — a portion of his policy, — a recruit 
 having taken the Queen's bounty and enlisted in 
 her service. 
 
 For though Lord Arlingham was sincere with 
 his son in exacting that his hesitation on this 
 point should be withheld, for the present, from 
 the heads of his party, he had himself been 
 unable to conceal from his valued colleague 
 the disappointment he had experienced. 
 
 " The mere pragmaticality and priggishness of 
 boyhood !" replied his Grace, on learning what 
 had passed between them. " AU clever lads of 
 one or two and twenty have the pretension 
 of seeing and judging for themselves ; and 
 but that the conceit is speedily taken out of
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 133 
 
 some of them by the rough schooling of society, 
 while the pleasures of life tend to enervate 
 the rest into the acquiescence of indolence, 
 we should be having as many political sects 
 start up to w^eaken the forces of the state, 
 as there are varieties of Coxcombs produced 
 by the premiums of the Horticultural ! — Most 
 young members set out with the pretension 
 of independence : the very clever ones learn 
 better of their own accord, and the moderately 
 clever ones are taught. I have no means of taking 
 measure of your boy's abilities, and parental 
 measure is not to be trusted; so, for want 
 of information, let us class him in the latter 
 category, and see what we can do for his 
 enlightenment." 
 
 It was, however, rather to the weakness of 
 Lord Fareham's heart, than to the strength 
 of his head, that the experienced apostle ad- 
 dressed himself in his efforts at conversion. 
 Having discerned the amiableness of the young 
 man's disposition, the Duke commenced his
 
 134 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 attack by praises of his father, — by more than 
 praises,- — by the deference of a superior mind 
 to Lord Arhngham's opinion, and a profession 
 of readiness to adopt any measure of his 
 proposing. 
 
 In this utter self-abnegation, he seemed 
 to take for granted the perfect coincidence of 
 Lord Fareham. The governmental " We " 
 seemed, in the long interview they held 
 together, expressly and especially intended 
 to comprehend the new colleague and the 
 only son of the great minister. 
 
 All this was so ably and quietly accomplished, 
 that the arrangement appeared irrevocably 
 settled, long before Lord Fareham so much 
 as perceived it to be in agitation ; and, while 
 simply, as he thought, replying to the arguments 
 of his father's guest, he involuntarily adopted 
 the form of the first person plural destined 
 to unite him with the party ambitious of 
 certifying him as its own. 
 
 By degrees, the Duke had the art to render
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 135 
 
 these conversations general ; thus betraying the 
 young man in whom, for his father's sake, he 
 took an earnest interest, into similar avowals 
 in presence of the formal Earl of Finland and 
 the officious Mr. Wilson Cringe, — a sort of 
 reporter of society, always at hand to take down 
 a man's words, and bear witness to his 
 looks and actions, — the salaried informer of 
 the party. 
 
 Reconciled, meanwhile, to his own con- 
 science by his previous explanations with his. 
 father, Lord Fareham was thoroughly off his 
 guard. His whole heart being embarked in 
 the success of his father and the establishment 
 of his measures, nothing was so easy as to 
 excite his enthusiasm, and draw out the re- 
 sources of his mind, by pretended mistrust of 
 the success of certain points of the policy of 
 Lord Arlingham; so that, at the close of the 
 week, the Duke had not only managed to ex- 
 ' hibit him to his father's colleagues and neigh- 
 bours, as the devoted adherent of their party, but
 
 136 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 had conceived genuine admiration of his culti- 
 vation of mind, and energetic warmth of heart. 
 He could understand a father's partiality for 
 such a son. 
 
 On the eve of his departure from the castle, 
 however, the Duke, satisfied that his bird was 
 safely snared, made so cool an attempt to close 
 the door of the cage upon him, that Lord 
 Fareham was startled into perceiving how far 
 beyond his intentions he had pledged himself. 
 From the sparkling of Lord Arlingham's eyes, 
 while listening to his noble colleague's allusions 
 to his son as a steady official and active mem- 
 ber, he saw that he was allowing the man 
 about to undergo so cruel and overwhelming a 
 blow, to prepare aggravation for his approach- 
 ing disappointment by reckoning on his public 
 services. 
 
 " Far worse !" mused he, in the solitude of his 
 chamber, after retiring for the night. "When 
 the terrible truth bursts upon him, it may 
 appear as if I had wished to pre-assure myself
 
 - THE BIRTHRIGHT. 137 
 
 of his sanction to my debut in public life, ere I 
 revealed myself to him as an impostor. The 
 world win have a right to infer that I secured 
 the imprimatur of his and the Duke's recom- 
 mendation, before I made my confessions. 
 This must not be. I will insist on a release 
 from De Lisle. He has no right, in addition 
 to all my miseries, to expose me to this de- 
 grading accusation. To-morrow, I will write, 
 and claim this justice at his hands." 
 
 But the morrow brought other suggestions. 
 A letter from Lady Evelyn Lorn, entreated him 
 to disengage himself as speedily as was in his 
 power from the Fareham Castle party, and 
 return to Brighton. 
 
 "I am most anxious to see you, dearest 
 Fareham," wrote his plighted wife , " not alone, 
 because your two last letters have been strangely 
 incoherent, as though you had something on 
 your mind, but because I have much to say to 
 you. Come to me, dearest ; 1 shall not be 
 happy till we meet again."
 
 138 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 The vigilant eye of the lover fancied he could 
 discern a certain degree of tremulousness in the 
 writing and folding of this earnest appeal. 
 There wanted the usual firmness and decision 
 characterizing even the letters formed by the 
 hand of his beloved Evelyn. Something must 
 be amiss with her. Evil to her^ to the being 
 so dear to his heart, was about to afford the 
 overbrimming drop to his cup of wretchedness. 
 
 Not a moment would he have hesitated to 
 quit the party, and hurry to Brighton for 
 the satisfaction of his doubts. But there 
 was no need to apply for Lord Arlingham's 
 consent to such a proceeding. The little 
 ministerial circle was breaking up ; the Earl 
 of Finland already gone. The Duke, his son 
 and secretary were departing ; and on his com- 
 municating to his father that he was about to 
 start for Brighton, so far from opposing his 
 project, the Earl proposed that they should 
 travel together as far as London. 
 
 A Ute-a-Ute journey at that moment would.
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 139 
 
 however, have been too trying ! Instead, 
 therefore, of consenting to wait till the mor- 
 row, he insisted upon the impossibility of a 
 single hour's delay ; and the Earl, satisfied with 
 the victory obtained for him over the irresolution 
 of his son by the influence of the Duke, was 
 too happy in his prospects, public and domestic, 
 to create unnecessary difficulties. 
 
 Again, therefore, was Lord Fareham exposed 
 to the torment of his solitary reflections as he 
 made his way to town. For the last week, the 
 stir and excitement of the society in which he 
 had been engaged, perpetual inter-communi- 
 cation with a mind so active and so enlightened 
 as that of the Duke, and the necessity of doing 
 the honours of home to the rest of the party, 
 had left him less leisure for chewing the bitter 
 cud. He had suff'ered himself to be carried 
 away by the current of social cheerfulness from 
 the survey of his calamities; or rather he had 
 flung himself into the current, in the desperate 
 hope of losing sight of them for a time. And
 
 140 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 now that he was once more alone with them, 
 they seemed to have grown and strengthened in 
 the interval ! — 
 
 Still, as one bitter suggestion after another 
 obtained possession of his mind, there was a 
 cruise of oil for the surface of those stormy waves 
 in the certainty of Evelyn's affection. The 
 few hurried lines of the morning had knit anew, 
 and with stronger force, the tie uniting them 
 together. She was evidently out of spirits. 
 Some unexplained cause seemed to depress her 
 almost as much as himself. Taking the letter 
 again from his pocket for a new examination, 
 though every line and syllable was duly im- 
 pressed upon his mind, he determined that 
 the hand had trembled sorely which traced those 
 uncertain lines. 
 
 Her sister was doubtless worse. They loved 
 each other dearly, those twain ; Lady Clan- 
 tullin had been some years dead ; and the 
 girls, reared by an excellent, but somewhat strict 
 and peculiar father, found in each other's
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 141 
 
 society double comfort and delight ; so that the 
 illness by which, for nearly a year past, Lady 
 Mary had been afflicted, seemed to enhance the 
 value of the attachment affording promise of 
 new ties and new affections to supply the place 
 of the one, about to be so cruelly inter- 
 rupted. 
 
 *'Yes! she is worse, and my poor dear 
 precious Evelyn requires the comfort of my 
 society during the intervals of watching beside 
 her sick couch !'* was his final comment on the 
 letter, after a fiftieth perusal. " What a moment ' 
 alas ! to plunge her into further grief, when the 
 grave is about to close over the sister of her 
 heart! — Poor Mary ! — Mary would have consoled 
 her ! Mary, with her gentle, affectionate tem- 
 per, would have taught her patience under a 
 dispensation like that impending over her head. 
 But every thing, every thing combines against 
 me! The authoritative habits of the Duke of 
 Hythe have entangled me in the public career 
 from which I shall be driven with shame,
 
 142 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 when my hurable origin is discovered ; and 
 the sorrows of my poor Evelyn render it in- 
 cumbent upon me to cherish, till the last 
 moment, her iUusive prospect of becoming 
 my wife. It would be base and unmanly 
 were I to profit by the softness of her feelings 
 in her hour of affliction, to extort a renewal of 
 her avowal of affection — affection for the outcast, 
 — the beggar, — the child of shame, — the starvel- 
 ing sold by the kindred who loathed him, hke 
 Joseph by his brethren. No ! no ! this must 
 not be !— ^I will delay, as Sir James has pro- 
 posed, the fatal discovery ; — delay it till she is 
 able to hear the worst, and calmly decide 
 whether — but oh, God ! can I contemplate such 
 an alternative, and live ?" — 
 
 To approach the house of sickness is always 
 dispiriting. To approach it with a load upon 
 the mind such as now depressed that of poor 
 Lord Fareham, rendered the journey to Brighton, 
 indeed painful. He arrived there at too late 
 an hour to admit of more . than a message of
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 143 
 
 inquiry; the answer to which was just what 
 he apprehended: "During the last two days, 
 Lady Mary had become much worse." 
 
 " I knew it was so !" murmured he, shrug- 
 ging his shoulders. " Poor dear Evelyn ! At 
 this moment, though little aware of all that 
 awaits her, she is as miserable as myself." 
 
 And with a lover's longing, instead of betak- 
 ing himself to refreshment and rest, though 
 midnight was past, he sallied forth towards 
 Brunswick Square, to comfort his eyes with 
 the aspect of the house containing the object 
 of his affections. Even the reflection of the 
 watchlight in the windows of the sick-room, 
 would, he fancied, be satisfactory. 
 
 It was a bright and frosty night ; and the 
 pavement of the square lay before him clear 
 as at noon day. Unluckily, the w^anderer had 
 not solitary possession of the spot. One of 
 those little fussy, stuffy, attempts at a soiree, 
 which render dulness palpable in the early part 
 of a Brighton winter, was proceeding at an
 
 144 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 adjacent mansion; before the door of which, 
 were the usual melancholy allotment of a couple 
 of dowager-coaches, and a few flys ; — the horses 
 and drivers alike oil-skinned from head to 
 hoof. 
 
 At the moment, Lord Fareham was passing 
 the door of the house (pointed out as the scene 
 of festivity by an occasional screech outpassing 
 the rattle of a piano), a man enveloped in a 
 cloak, rushed so impetuously from the door 
 as nearly to precipitate the unlucky passer by 
 among the wheels of the flys. 
 
 A still greater calamity, however, than the 
 blow, was the apology that followed ; especially 
 when the apologist, in removing his comforter 
 from his mouth to make himself audible, ex- 
 hibited the eager face of Mr. Harbottle Drifting- 
 ton ! 
 
 " My dear Fareham ! — Pon my life and 
 honour, I am inexpressibly shocked! I trust 
 I have not hurt you?" cried he, seizing the 
 arm of his struggling companion. '* I thought
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 145 
 
 I had massacred some Hottentot proceeding 
 to what Mrs. Brown Green has the impu- 
 dence to call a concert; and whether done 
 to death by my awkwardness, or her daugh- 
 ter's squalling, what matters ? — But you are 
 surely not going into this heinous woman's 
 hot-closet?" 
 
 " I am going home, if you will give me 
 leave," said Lord Fareham, quietly attempting 
 to disengage himself. 
 
 " Ah ! — yes ! — by the way, I forgot my 
 vicinity to ClantuUin's head quarters ! — How * 
 long have you been here ?" 
 
 " Scarcely an hour ; and my head quarters, 
 so far from being at Lord Clantullin's, are at 
 the York Hotel." 
 
 " The deuce they are ! — That's monstrously 
 lucky, — for I am staying there myself ! — ^We'U 
 walk home together. And how have you 
 found Lady Mary ? — Devilish bad, I'm afraid. 
 Hopwig the apothecary, (whom I left just now 
 shaking himself in ecstasies at Miss Brown 
 
 VOL.. I. H
 
 146 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 Green's performance, as though he were one 
 of his own draughts), told me he thought her 
 in a very sad state. — He asked me, however, 
 whether Lord Clantullin had met with any 
 kind of family affliction ? — for that t'other day 
 when he called, Lady Evelyn was sobhing her 
 heart out over a letter? — He might as well 
 have kept it to himself, eh ? — as he is on confi- 
 dential terms in the house. — I told him, I'd 
 lay my life the letter was from you ; and that 
 if you were only half as crusty with your lady 
 love, as ten days ago in town with your humble 
 servant, I did'nt wonder at the poor girl's being 
 out of sorts." 
 
 " I trust you do not, even by inference, liken 
 any feeling with which you might inspire me to 
 those I entertain, or am likely to exhibit to- 
 wards Lady Evelyn Lorn ?" said' Lord Fareham, 
 haughtily. 
 
 " People who are in the habit of snubbing 
 their friends, sometimes fall into the other 
 mistake," said the unabashed Driftington. —
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 147 
 
 "But how is Lady Mary? — For I suppose 
 youVe been spending the evening there ?" 
 
 " I told you before, that I arrived in Brighton 
 an hour ago." 
 
 "Then, perhaps, I'm preventing your going 
 there ?" cried Driftington, without, however, 
 relinquishing his arm. 
 
 " It has struck twelve ; — somewhat an 
 untimely hour for a visit to a sick house. 
 — I shall not intrude on the family till to- 
 morrow." 
 
 " Between ourselves, my dear Fareham, as 
 her disorder is decidedly consumptive," re- 
 sumed Mr. Harbottle Driftington, " don't you 
 feel a little uneasy, sometimes, at the idea of 
 introducing such a malady into your family? 
 Your father's sisters are shocking sickly women ; 
 — and Lord Arhngham himself is a baddish 
 subject. You are the only healthy sprig of the 
 family tree. You are not the least like any of 
 them, — as I've often heard remarked ; — no ! 
 nor the least like the late Lady Arlingham, or 
 
 H 2
 
 148 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 any of the De Lisle family. IVe often noticed 
 it to Sir James. — You are dark. — You have a 
 decidedly Irish face. Yet I fancy you've no 
 Irish connexions — eh ? — However, as I was 
 saying, — with this sort of hereditary delicacy, 
 I wonder you're not afraid of so fragile a 
 cross as poor Lady Evelyn is likely to make 
 for the benefit of posterity ! — Now if you 
 had married Frances Hope, as last season 
 we all expected you would (as we were all 
 agi'eeing at Queen's Clere t'other day), you 
 might have expected a race like the sons 
 and daughters of Anak. — Frances is five feet 
 eight, and Lady Hester says she has not done 
 growing." 
 
 " I have no partiality for giantesses !" said 
 Lord Fareham, with disgust. — And he was 
 luckily spared the annoyance of further fami- 
 liarity on the part of his officious companion, 
 by their arrival, at that moment, at the door 
 of the briUiantly-lighted hotel. 
 
 It was no unusual spectacle to the waiters
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 149 
 
 to find the attempts of Mr. Harbottle Drift- 
 ington to fix himself as a guest, even at 
 that late hour, upon one of their noble inmates, 
 repulsed on the present occasion by the haughty 
 coldness of Lord Fareham.
 
 150 THE BIRTHRIGHT, 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 I stalk about her door. 
 Like a strange soul, upon the Stygian banks. 
 Praying for waftage. 
 
 SHAKSPEARE. 
 
 Little had Lord Fareham supposed he 
 should ever cross the threshold of Lord Clan- 
 tuUin with so sickening a heart as chanced on 
 the morrow ; when about to present himself, 
 arrayed in all the consciousness of shame, hefore 
 her whose superiority even to the high rank he 
 was able to offer her, he had ever admitted. 
 Yes, his Evelyn was worthy to be a monarch's 
 bride ; and he was about to bestow upon her 
 the endearments of a beggar's changeling ! 
 But that he knew her to be in deep affliction,
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 151 
 
 and awaiting his presence as the sole consola- 
 tion of her grief, he would not, at that moment^ 
 have found courage to proceed into her presence. 
 
 As it was, his manner was so embarrassed, 
 his greeting so unlike his usual passionate ten- 
 derness, that, had not Lady Evelyn Lorn been 
 pre-absorbed in miseries of her own, she would 
 have been startled. Even troubled as she was, 
 the colour rose to her cheek, on finding that, 
 instead of the affectionate salute which, in her 
 father's presence, usually attended their greet- 
 ings. Lord Fareham was contented to take her 
 hand. He held it, however, for one or two 
 minutes, in silence, — gazing the while in speech- 
 less tenderness upon her sweet face; and his 
 voice faltered with emotion, when at length he 
 led her to the sofa, whispering, as he took his 
 place by her side : 
 
 " You sent for me, dearest ? I did not lose 
 a moment in obeying your summons. I was 
 grieved to learn, last night, in answer to my 
 message, that poor Mary is no better !"
 
 152 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 " Much worse !" replied Lady Evelyn, in the 
 same low and faltering tone. " My poor sister 
 has lost all appetite, and her rest is sadly broken. 
 She can scarcely be said to sleep. Last night, 
 she was first to hear your name mentioned in 
 the hall ; and late as it was, instantly sent down 
 Mrs* Harman to inquire whether you were 
 arrived." 
 
 " She wiU let me see her by and by, I 
 trust ?" — he inquired, resuming his hold of Lady 
 Evelyn's small white hand, and looking anx- 
 iously into her face, to ascertain whether she 
 had not suffered, in her turn, from the restless- 
 ness of the invalid. "You are looking pale, 
 my own Evelyn !" said he, scarcely able to pre- 
 serve the distance his conscience imposed upon 
 him. " You are ill, darling ; you trem- 
 ble !" 
 
 " Only with the joy of seeing you again," she 
 faintly repUed. " You know not what it is to 
 bear alone the sorrow of which the heavy bur- 
 then has been hitherto shared by a friend."
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 153 
 
 A tender pressure of the hand, encouraged 
 the further observation of — 
 
 " I was so afraid Lord Arlingham would be 
 unable to spare you from home, with the house 
 fiill of company !" 
 
 "The party was breaking up when your 
 letter arrived. But even had it been otherwise, 
 could you suppose I should have hesitated an 
 instant to comply with your wishes ?" 
 
 StiU, if Lord Fareham's words were fond, the 
 embarrassment of his manner did not escape 
 the vigilant eye of affection ; and though pre- 
 pared, for reasons yet unexplained, to receive 
 him with less than her usual fervour, Lady 
 Evelyn experienced the mortification which 
 every woman experiences under similar circum- 
 stances, of being forestalled in a purposed de- 
 monstration of coolness. The paleness and 
 tremor which Lord Fareham had noticed on 
 entering the room, were only the more painfully 
 increased by this consideration. 
 
 " How is Lord ClantuUin ? Is he at
 
 154 THE BIRTHRIGHT^ 
 
 home ?" inquired the young man, for the first 
 time desirous of any interruption to a t^te-a-t^te 
 with the object of his affection. 
 
 "My father is, as you may suppose, sadly 
 low. His hopes had been so cruelly raised by the 
 physicians, as to the advantage hkely to be 
 derived from change of air by my poor sister !" 
 
 " I do not think, however, he was ever very 
 sanguine." 
 
 '' He is just now sitting with Mary, and 
 reading to her," observed Lady Evelyn. " As 
 soon as this is over, I will let them know 
 you are herew" 
 
 "But you mentioned in your letter that you 
 had much to say to me?" — observed Lord 
 Fareham, as if to remonstrate against a proposal 
 which, nevertheless, originated with himself 
 
 " I have, dearest !'^ she replied, mechanically 
 withdrawing her hand ; ^^too much to enter into 
 the explanation just now. It is always time 
 enough to- — that is — in short, I would rather 
 defer what I have to communicate tiU I am
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 155 
 
 secure of an hour with you uninterrupted by 
 my father or a summons from Mary. You are 
 not, I trust, obhged to leave Brighton imme- 
 diately ?"— 
 
 " No ! Lord Arlingham is in town, and does 
 not at present want me," he replied ; " nor shall 
 I think of quitting you if I find you have any 
 immediate cause for uneasiness on Mary's 
 account." 
 
 Lady Evelyn gazed at him a moment, as if 
 surprised; the next, she rose from her seat, 
 and approaching the table, busied herself with 
 the removal of some books, as if by way of 
 pretext for a change of place ; for when she again 
 seated herself, it was in an arm chair beside 
 the fire-place, at some distance from the sofa. 
 
 Following the Hne of conduct he had traced 
 out for himself, Lord Fareham, though surprised 
 and mortified, submitted without remark, and 
 soon afterwards took up his own place on the 
 hearth-rug, and began to talk of things compa- 
 ratively indifferent ; of the circle he had quitted
 
 156 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 at Fareham Castle, of his journey and the 
 weather ; and, above all, of the nuisance of 
 having accidentally placed himself under the 
 same roof with Mr. Harbottle Driftington. 
 
 " I foresee that I shall never have a moment 
 to myself, so long as I remain at Brighton ! 
 That man's eye will be constantly upon me!" 
 said he, peevishly. 
 
 "x\ sad annoyance, I admit," said Lady 
 Evelyn, in an absent and careless manner. " But 
 after all, it does not much signify : it is only a 
 minor evil." 
 
 Lord Fareham shrugged his shoulders. He 
 was not accustomed to hear her treat as a minor 
 evil any personal annoyance of which he saw 
 fit to complain. Involuntarily, he fixed his 
 eyes upon that gentle face and graceful form ; 
 — the loveliness of which had never struck 
 him more forcibly than at that moment, 
 when he contemplated it as lost to him for 
 ever. — In her closely-wrapping black velvet 
 dress, the weU-turned throat of Lady Evelyn
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 157 
 
 looked white as alabaster ; and but for the lifelike 
 gloss of the long chesnut ringlets that feU over 
 the white hand on which her cheek was 
 propped, while her elbow rested on the cushioned 
 arm of the chair, she might have passed for 
 a monumental statue. She was not apt to be so 
 pale. But long confinement in a sick room 
 seemed to be working its usual evil consequences. 
 
 His heart yearned towards her as he gazed. His 
 first and only love was before him ; she whom 
 he had chosen from the world; she who had 
 rejoiced to be so chosen. Yet he dared not 
 snatch his phghted wife to his heart, and whisper 
 the question that can never be asked or answered 
 too often by those who love — " are you mine 
 only, and mine for ever ?" 
 
 As this embarrassing position was becoming 
 intolerable to Lord Fareham, a heav}^ step was 
 heard rapidly descending the staircase ; and when 
 it approached the drawing-room door, (as au- 
 dibly as the slight nature of Brighton architec- 
 ture renders all the movements of the inmates of
 
 158 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 its houses), he flattered himself that the arrival 
 of Lord Clantullin was about to reheve 
 them. 
 
 But the step passed on to the haU. A 
 moment afterwards, and the house-door was 
 opened and closed; when Lady Evelyn, 
 glancing from the window to the pavement, 
 exclaimed with an air of surprise, " My father 
 gone out so early ? — How strange that he 
 should have left the house without seeing 
 
 you!" 
 
 If Lord Fareham thought so too, he dis- 
 guised his sentiments by an eager inquiry of 
 whether they could not now be admitted to see 
 Lady Mary. 
 
 " I wiU tell her you are here," replied Lady 
 Evelyn, hurrying from the room ; and no sooner 
 was the lover alone, than he gave way to 
 growing feelings of surprise and uneasiness at 
 all that was passing. 
 
 The summons he had received to Brighton, — 
 the hesitation of Evelyn, now that he was come
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 159 
 
 to explain the motives of her request, — the g^ne 
 of her deportment, — the evident avoidance of 
 Lord Clantullin — what could all this mean? 
 Was it possible that any rumours of the mystery 
 enveloping his birth should have reached their 
 ears ? — Had De Lisle, on whose word he was be- 
 ginning to place but faint reliance, — doubly be- 
 trayed him ? 
 
 But no ! there could be no object in such 
 treachery; and what other channel existed 
 through which that terrible secret could trans- 
 pire? — He must look elsewhere for the origin 
 of all that startled him in the altered manner of 
 Lady Evelyn. — And he had ample leisure for the 
 examination ; for, instead of retui'ning imme- 
 diately with a reply to his request for an au- 
 dience of Lady Mary, her absence was strangely 
 prolonged. ^ 
 
 Five minutes — twenty — thirty — served to 
 stimulate his anxious fears. For what purpose 
 was she thus sporting with his feehngs ? What 
 could detain her? Were her sentiments so
 
 160 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 cooled towards him, that she had no sympathy 
 with the uneasiness she must be certain of 
 having created in his mind ? — 
 
 " I feel how it is with me !" muttered Lord 
 Fareham, as he paced the room in uncontrol- 
 able impatience. "AU these unnatural misgiv- 
 ings — these tremors never felt before — arise 
 from the consciousness of standing in presence 
 of my future wife as a vile impostor ! Knowing 
 as I do the candour and equity of dearest Eve- 
 lyn's character, I am sensible of my own un- 
 worthiness in not. honestly apprizing her, — as 
 one so nearly a part of myself ought instantly 
 to be apprized, — of the loss of what I once es- 
 teemed my Birthright. — ^When she knows all, 
 I shall be content ! — Even the certainty that 
 the beggar's son must forfeit the rich trea- 
 .sure of her aifection, would be less painful to 
 bear, than the consciousness of deceiving a heart 
 so true. I have not pledged myself to De Lisle 
 to be a villain to her ! — Enough, that I submit 
 to impose upon Lord Arlingham. To Evelyn,
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 161 
 
 my precious noble Evelyn — I must and will 
 reveal the truth !" 
 
 And having taken this manly resolution, he 
 raised his head again ; in the secret conviction, 
 that his candour would be rewarded by finding 
 the exalted being on whom his affections were 
 lavished, unmoved in her sentiments towards 
 him by his cruel change of fortunes. His 
 mind was comparatively at ease, after having 
 foimd courage to face the worst. 
 
 "The moment in which she consents to be 
 still mine — mine for my single sake and for the 
 love she bears me," mused he, almost aloud, 
 "will richly compensate for aU I have suffered 
 or may have to suffer !" 
 
 At that moment, the door was slowly opened, 
 and Lady Evelyn re-entered the room ; not with 
 the step of youthful elasticity with which she 
 was accustomed to hasten into the presence of 
 the object of her love ; — not with the beaming 
 looks which even her grief for her sister's afflic- 
 tions was not able to sadden when gazing
 
 162 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 upon his face ; but with faltering steps, and 
 tearful eyes — her cheeks still paler than during 
 their recent interview. Lord Fareham fancied 
 he perceived a slight odour of ether as she 
 entered the room, as though she had been assist- 
 ing in recovering the invalid from some crisis 
 of exhaustion. 
 
 "Mary is worse, I fear. What, what has 
 happened ?" — cried he, perceiving that Lady 
 Evelyn was scarcely able to reach a seat. 
 
 "Nothing has happened," she replied, in a 
 low, but firm voice. " My sister is not worse ; 
 but she is not equal to the interview you pro- 
 posed." 
 
 " This afternoon, perhaps ?" 
 
 " You win permit me, therefore," resumed 
 Lady Evelyn, not noticing his interruption, " to 
 profit by my father's absence and Mary's de- 
 sire to be alone, in order to — in order — " 
 
 " In order," interrupted Lord Fareham, per- 
 ceiving that her firmness was gradually forsak- 
 ing her, and that she was scarcely able to arti-
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 163 
 
 culate, " to explain to me the motive of my 
 presence here. — Is it not so, Evelyn ?" 
 
 For a moment, she remained silent; then, 
 more firmly than he had anticipated, simply 
 reiterated his words, 
 
 " Yes ! to explain to you the motive of my 
 request for your presence here." 
 
 Though her look seemed almost to invite 
 him to take his usual place by her side, Lord 
 Fareham, with feelings of growing mistrust, 
 stood aloof. Yet it was only too easy to per- 
 ceive, from the unusual faintness of her tone, 
 that she might experience some difficulty in 
 making herself audible at the distance he chose 
 to preserve between them. 
 
 " I have that to say to you," she resumed, 
 gathering strength from his ungraciousness, 
 " which must be grievous to us both ; — painful 
 to you to hear, as to myself to utter. But you 
 must find courage, Henry — you must find 
 courage, as I have done." 
 
 Lord Fareham looked wistfully towards the
 
 164 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 seat, from which he made up his mind to re- 
 frain. He was not accustomed to keep aloof 
 when Evelyn looked unhappy. Still, a secret 
 terror kept him firm to his estrangement. 
 
 " Since I saw you last," resumed Lady Evelyn, 
 as if she had nerved herself to avow the worst, 
 and avoid all further circumlocution, " circum- 
 stances have come to my knowledge, which 
 render our union impossible. Had they tran- 
 spired earlier in our acquaintance, much misery 
 might have been spared me; but to prolong 
 our engagement, with the certainty that our 
 marriage would be a source of — Forgive me, 
 I cannot dwell upon this ! Spare me, Henry I 
 You cannot but suspect to what I allude. Since 
 the terrible secret became known to me, I have 
 not experienced a moment's peace 1 But, alas ! 
 there remains but one step to take. — ^We must 
 part !" 
 
 " You have judged wisely. I will not pre- 
 tend to misunderstand you," said he, coldly. 
 — " Our union is, indeed, impossible I"
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 165 
 
 " Then why not, with this conviction, forestal 
 the rupture to which you have compelled me ?" 
 — cried Lady Evelyn. " Why leave to me the 
 odium of an act that would have proceeded 
 with a far better grace from yourself?" — 
 
 "On my honour — on my salvation," — ex- 
 claimed Lord Fareham, as though the former 
 word were no longer appropriate to his condi- 
 tion, " not a fortnight has elapsed since, for the 
 first time, I entertained a suspicion of the 
 truth. I determined, when I entered this 
 house to-day, not to leave it till I had revealed 
 all to yourself. A faint hope brightened my 
 wretchedness, that you might still, in spite of 
 all — But, no matter! You have decided 
 wisely, and weU. There remains for me only 
 to entreat your forgiveness for having unwit- 
 tingly, under such circumstances, degraded you 
 by pretending to your hand." 
 
 " If you were yourself without suspicion of 
 the truth," murmured Lady Evelyn, tears slowly 
 rolling over her cheeks, "I acquit you. It
 
 166 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 will be something in the estrangement about to 
 arise between us, that I am able to preserve my 
 esteem for one I had hoped to — " 
 
 She paused, and laid her hand a moment 
 upon her heart, as if to tranquillize its strug- 
 gles. 
 
 " I thank you !" was the proud reply of 
 Lord Fareham, "though 1 might, perhaps, 
 claim as a right, what you seem disposed 
 to accord as a concession. In all this, it is 
 I, Evelyn — I, alone who am to be pitied. When 
 you have cast me off, your prospects in life will 
 remain uninjured : no one will blame or despise 
 you. Others more fortunate than myself, will 
 pretend to your hand, and eventually obtain your 
 heart — effacing all trace of your early entangle- 
 ment. You will be happy, prosperous, beloved ; 
 wMe I shall retain only the embittering recollec- 
 tion of the facility with which, on making the 
 cruel discovery, you were able to dismiss me 
 from your regard.'' 
 
 ""Vou judge me ungenerously;" cried Lady
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 167 
 
 Evelyn, trembling in every limb. " If I have 
 suppressed my feelings of agony in order to 
 spare your own, the greatness of the effort 
 is only to be appreciated by myself! I thought 
 you more generous. I fancied you would be 
 able to appreciate my sacrifice." 
 
 A knock at the door interrupted her; a 
 knock, which long experience enabled them 
 both to recognize as that of Lord Clantullin. 
 Rain had come on, unperceived by the absorbed 
 pair ; and the old man was driven home again 
 in a fly, from the walk with which he had 
 intended to refresh himself after the confinement 
 of the sick room. 
 
 "How unfortunate; it is my father 1" said 
 Lady Evelyn, hastily rising. " He must not find 
 me thus agitated. He has not, at present, the 
 remotest suspicion of this terrible discovery." 
 
 " The decision you have formed against me, 
 then, is. whblly and solely your own?" — de- 
 manded Lord Fareham, who had fondly attri- 
 buted the sternness of purpose with which Evelyn
 
 168 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 was dealing with him, to the worldly wisdom of 
 the Earl. 
 
 " It is essential to the happiness of us aU," 
 replied Lady Evelyn, hurriedly, without even 
 noticing the insinuation, " that he should be kept 
 in ignorance of the truth. At some future 
 time, if my hopes prosper, we may tell him all. At 
 present, I entreat you, Henry, — entreat you by 
 all the affection you have ever professed towards 
 me, — delay the intimation of this rupture." 
 
 " How is it to be done without declaring the 
 whole bitter truth to Lord Clantullin?" cried 
 Lord Fareham, struggling for utterance. 
 
 " Oh, no — no ! — not for worlds ;" cried she, 
 starting up, and placing her cold white hands 
 beseechingly on his arm, till, in the bitterness of 
 his soul. Lord Fareham flung them off with 
 disgust. 
 
 " My father is coming up stairs ! There is not 
 a moment for hesitation;" exclaimed Lady 
 Evelyn, disregarding his resentful cruelty, in 
 the earnestness of her purpose. " All I ask you
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 169 
 
 is to say nothing to him now, and to offer no 
 opposition to the explanations I shall make after 
 your departure from Brighton ; for you must 
 not remain here. Compelled as I have been 
 to precipitate the explanation between us, at this 
 last moment I cannot be more explicit. When 
 you are far from hence, I will apprize my father 
 that, by mutual consent, our engagement is 
 dissolved ; — that, on a nearer acquaintance, our 
 tempers proved incompatible." — 
 
 Lord Fareham was about to express his in- 
 dignation that so shallow a plea was likely to 
 satisfy her family, to whom he had ever believed 
 her warm attachment for him a matter of convic- 
 tion. But at that moment, the kind-hearted 
 old Earl broke into the room, overjoyed to see 
 him, and having manifestly only that moment 
 learned his arrival. 
 
 " My dear Fareham, how are you ?" cried he. 
 "This is indeed an unexpected pleasure. Will 
 you believe it that those stupid fellows below let 
 me quit the house, just now, without apprizing me 
 
 VOL. I. I
 
 170 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 you were here ? If it had not happened to rain, I 
 might have missed seeing you till dinner time !" 
 said he, cordially shaking the hand of his in- 
 tended son-in-law, which he held, while speaking, 
 between his own. 
 
 " I had not the least notion of your being 
 able to give us a glimpse of you again !" he 
 resumed, finding Lord Fareham make no reply. 
 " It was very kind of your father to spare you 
 to us so soon. — How does Arlingham find 
 himself, pray, after all his recent holiday-mak- 
 ing?"— 
 
 The old man paused for a reply. But no 
 reply was forthcoming. Neither his daughter 
 nor his guest could utter a syllable. A glance 
 from one to the other revealed them to the Earl 
 as they stood before him, the one with swollen 
 eyelids and despairing countenance, the other 
 still more deeply affected. 
 
 " Ah ! I see what you were talking of, 
 when I came in l" cried he. — " Poor Evelyn 
 has been telling you, my dear Fareham, of the
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. I7l 
 
 late unfavourable change, and that the physi- 
 cians have taken away the little hope left us. 
 Poor dear child, — poor blessed Mary! — I was 
 reading to her for an hour before I went out ; 
 but I fear she was almost too weak and too 
 miserable to find pleasure in listening. — Have 
 you been up to see her, Fareham ?" 
 
 " My sister expressed a wish^ to sleep," 
 replied Lady Evelyn, interposing. " She is 
 certainly less well to-day." 
 
 " And you too, my poor dear girl ; you are 
 making yourself ill in your turn," faltered the 
 Earl, drawing her fondly towards him, and 
 fixing his eyes on her tear-stained cheeks. 
 " Just see, Fareham, to what a state of 
 nervousness she has reduced herself by nursing ! 
 ^I cannot bear this, Evelyn ! — I must not 
 have to part from both my children.— Remon- 
 strate with her ! — She will mind you. Tell 
 her that, at this rate, she will seriously injure 
 herself, and break both our hearts !" 
 
 Tears were in the eyes of the old Lord, 
 
 I 2
 
 172 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 as he drew his daughter still closer towards 
 him, and imprinted a solemn kiss upon her 
 forehead. 
 
 At that moment, Lady Evelyn Lorn glanced 
 towards the unhappy young man, (who was 
 already beginning to regard her with the cold 
 contempt due to the promptitude of her worldly- 
 minded discretion), with such a look of despair 
 at her own wretchedness, and of entreaty that 
 he would spare the feelings of her father, that 
 Lord Fareham had not courage to persist in 
 his project of announcing his instant departure 
 from Brighton, 
 
 He even submitted, in compliance with her 
 hint, to allow the Earl to expect him at 
 dinner ; — to be cross-questioned concerning his 
 journey, — concerning Lord Arlingham's plans 
 for the opening parliamentary campaign ; and 
 though his replies were sufficiently incoherent 
 to have startled any one whose mind was not 
 absorbed by the mortal iUness of a beloved 
 daughter, it needed all the force of poor Evelyn's
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 173 
 
 beseeching glances, to enable him to maintain 
 even this moderate show of composure. 
 
 " Your father, my dear Fareham, is enjoying 
 a triumph that would turn any head less 
 admirably organised than his own 1" said Lord 
 ClantuUin, wholly unconscious of all that was 
 passing before him. " Gad ! if I had spirits 
 just now to envy any human being, I really 
 think it would be my friend Arlingham ! But 
 I always predicted some great coup (Tetat of 
 your father." 
 
 The name thus reiterated, seemed to sear 
 the ears of Lord Fareham as with burning 
 iron. His downcast looks steadily evaded those 
 of Lady Evelyn. — Yet even though he met 
 not her eyes, he fancied he could feel them 
 fixed with withering contempt upon the sup- 
 positious son of the Earl of Arlingham. 
 
 The blood rushed to his temples. He felt 
 that, if he stood much longer there before them, 
 in that false position, he should expire of shame 
 before their eyes.
 
 174 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 Pretending, with sudden recollection, that a 
 friend was waiting for him at the hotel with 
 whom he had to keep an appointment, he 
 prepared to quit the room. 
 
 " Well, well ! If you must go, you must !" 
 cried Lord Clantullin. " I suppose Evelyn 
 has told you that we dine at six? — I would 
 say bring your friend with you, (as all your 
 friends will be ever welcome to me), — but that 
 poor Mary's condition renders the company of even 
 a single stranger, insupportable. — ^Who is it ?" 
 
 Startled by this unexpected apostrophe from 
 one entitled to ask him the most familiar ques- 
 tions. Lord Fareham stood irresolute. A 
 glimpse of Lady Evelyn's anxious face gave 
 him spirit to collect his thoughts. 
 
 " Mr. Harbottle Driftington, is staying at 
 my hotel," said he, evasively, " and several 
 other men of my acquaintance. Perhaps it 
 would be better if I joined them at dinner ; — 
 as you and Lady Evelyn must be so much 
 worn out with watching ?"
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 175 
 
 " Worn out, indeed? — ^Are you not one of 
 ourselves?" cried the kind old man; and in 
 his solicitude to ascertain, ere he permitted his 
 son-in-law's departure, whether the rain had 
 ceased, — whether the pavement were dry, — and 
 above all, whether Lord Fareham had an um- 
 brella, he fortunately lost sight of the expressive 
 countenances before him, in both of which, 
 despair was unconcealably depicted. 
 
 As Lord Fareham closed the door after him 
 on quitting the room, poor Evelyn sank into 
 her seat in a state of utter exhaustion. But 
 it was only natural for Lord Clantullin to 
 attribute her suffering condition to the effects 
 of anxious attendance upon the couch of her 
 dying sister ! 
 
 So truly do we judge of each others' feelings, 
 among the deceptions of this world ! —
 
 176 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 CHAPTER VIIL 
 
 There jvhere I had gamer'd up my heart. 
 Where either I must live, or bear no life ; 
 The fountain from the which my current runs. 
 Or else dries up — to be discarded thence ! 
 
 SHAKSPEARE. 
 
 Ten days elapsed after the wretched visit 
 of Lord Fareham to Brighton ; and all he had 
 yet effected towards the completion of his 
 intentions, was to entreat by letter from Lady 
 Evelyn a few weeks' delay in the explanations 
 still to be made to her father. — He asked it 
 coldly and haughtily, indeed, but in such terms 
 as to render non-compliance impossible. For 
 the breach between them, when revealed to 
 Lord Arlingham by the Earl of Clantullin, 
 (who was far from likely to be satisfied with 
 the shallow pretext they had mutually devised),
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 177 
 
 could not fail to provoke inquiries on the part 
 of his father, such as, without self-hetrayal. 
 Lord Fareham felt it would be impossible for him 
 to answer. 
 
 He was still, therefore, tossed on a sea of 
 troubles ; — still perplexed, as well as miserable ; 
 — still conscious, that the commonest comforts 
 he enjoyed, were enjoyed at unlawful cost ; — 
 and above aU, still sinking hourly lower and 
 lower in his own estimation, as he reflected on 
 his vain over-estimate of Evelyn's affection. 
 
 AU else he would have borne. But the ease 
 with which she had resigned him ! — Scarcely 
 a pang, scarcely a tear! — She had talked of 
 emotions, indeed, and uttered a few common 
 place expressions of regret. — But to what did 
 the fact amount ? — ^That she had allotted half 
 an hour to the explanation which was to preci- 
 pitate the man of her choice from the height of 
 human happiness, into the utmost depths of 
 despair ! — She had discarded him as cooUy as 
 she would have discarded an upper servant ! 
 
 I 3 
 
 •
 
 178 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 — ^All her anxiety had been to get him as 
 speedily as possible out of the house ; as though 
 she could not too eagerly shake off the con- 
 tamination she had unwittingly contracted by 
 affiance with an inferior. — Oh ! in the secresy 
 and bitterness of his soul, what blasphemies 
 did he not utter against the vileness of that 
 calumniated sex, which devotes itself, in life and 
 death, only that its devotion may be derided 
 by the worldly-minded, and mistrusted by all 
 the rest ! — 
 
 Unwilling to expose himself to the cross- 
 questioning of Lord Arlingham touching the 
 motive of his sudden journey to Brighton, and 
 as sudden return, instead of proceeding to 
 London, or harassing himself by a visit to some 
 country house, (of all species of private life the 
 most public and most fatiguing), he pursued his 
 way along the coast to the Isle of Wight ; as if 
 for the perverse purpose of visiting its enchanting 
 scenery at the least advantageous moment of 
 the year. — He had frequently been there before,
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 179 
 
 in the height of the yachting season, when all 
 was sunshine, movement, and social refinement ; 
 and the change to its present cheerless winter 
 aspect, resembled only too revoltingly the vicissi- 
 tudes of his destinies. — ^There was something 
 congenial with the present morose condition of 
 his temper in those leafless woods, — those dis- 
 jointed chines, — those reefs, so fatal to the 
 fortunes of the mariner. 
 
 The solitary shores along which he pursued 
 his way, accompanied only by the ciy of the 
 sea-birds circling from the cliffs above, enabled , 
 him to enjoy, to the utmost, the despair which 
 was becoming a portion of himself , 
 
 Longer, perhaps, would he have kept aloof 
 from the importunities of social converse, but 
 that every day suggested itself as one of the 
 last numbered unto him for the enjoyment, not 
 of his undue splendours and worldly ascendancy, 
 but of Lord Arlingham's society. 
 
 " A few weeks more," mused he, " and, even 
 should he still continue to me the concession
 
 180 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 of his esteem, how different will be our relative 
 position ! — Painful as it is to me now to stand 
 in his presence, how far more painful to yearn 
 after it, without the privilege of seeking it 
 again ! — ^When once discarded from his house, 
 and alienated from him for ever, how precious 
 will appear every moment of the time I might 
 have spent in his company ! — How shall I long 
 for his opinions, — his instructions, — nay, the 
 very sound of his beloved voice ! — ^Dearly as I 
 used to prize every moment enjoyed by the side 
 of Evelyn, I now feel how insufficiently — how 
 very insufficiently, I valued at the time my 
 precious privilege ! — Yet, Evelyn has treated me 
 with recklessness and scorn ; — ^Evelyn, I have 
 learnt to despise ; — while Lord Arlingham will 
 never, I am convinced, merit any other feeling 
 at my hands, than the deference which not even 
 the familiarity of father and son was ever able 
 to diminish." 
 
 Next day, he was in London; undergoing 
 all the torture of a thousand anxious inquiries
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 181 
 
 from the Earl touching the state of health which 
 could have produced so strange an alteration in 
 his looks. As, however, according to the terms 
 of his agreement with Lady Evelyn, no hint 
 was at present to be aiforded of the rupture of 
 their engagement, he allowed Lord Arlingham 
 to infer that he had been spending his time at 
 Brighton; where the miserable contemplation 
 of the dying sister of his affianced wife, an ex- 
 quisitely beautiful girl fading in the full bloom 
 of youth, afforded a natural pretext for his loss 
 of spirits. 
 
 Nor was it difficult, just then, to distract the 
 Earl's attention from the state of his looks. In 
 the interim of his absence, parliament had met ; 
 and Lord Arlingham was luxuriating in all the 
 excitement of triumph from having met it with 
 the command of a powerful majority. — All was 
 weU with him. Auspicious news had arrived 
 from the only quarter, which had tended to 
 overcloud the lustre of his foreign policy ; and 
 Lord Fareham had to listen to his self-gratula-
 
 182 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 tions at being able to introduce his beloved son 
 into public life at a crisis so honourable to the 
 names and prospects of both. For, accustomed 
 to the summary mode in which his illustrious 
 colleague was apt to dispose of the opinions and 
 intentions of his juniors, it did not occur to the 
 Earl as possible, that Lord Fareham shovild 
 meditate any further opposition to their common 
 projects in his favour. 
 
 The day following his arrival in town, how- 
 ever, they dined together at a grand party- 
 gathering, at the Duke of Hythe's ; in which, 
 as an active and fluent adherent, Mr. Harbottle 
 Driftington was included. It was the least his 
 Grace could do, in gratitude for the zeal with 
 which he had been running hither and thither, 
 praising the wisdom of the Coalition, and chaunt- 
 ing paeans in his honour. 
 
 Such parties were at aU times distasteful to 
 Lord Fareham. There was something of 
 " shop" in them, — something ungenial and un- 
 real, — which he was averse to encounter among
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 183 
 
 the humanities of social life. But on the pre- 
 sent occasion, he was glad of any thing that 
 forced him out of himself and away from home. 
 
 This feeling did not last, however, when he 
 found himself placed at table opposite to Drift- 
 ington, and side by side with Lord Thomas 
 Aymer; the hoaxing of the latter, and the 
 restless curiosity of the former, being a serious 
 calamity to a man labouring under mental de- 
 pression. 
 
 "By the way, my dear Fareham," cried 
 Driftington, by way of marking his familiarity 
 with Lord Arlingham's son, almost before the 
 party were seated at table, " what a slippery 
 trick you played us all the other day at Brighton! 
 Why, you were not there four and twenty 
 hours ! And really, to give poor Lord Clan- 
 tullin the slip in the way you did ! The good 
 old man was down at the hotel within half 
 an hour after you started, inquiring of aU 
 and sundry, what had become of you ; 
 whether you had been summoned express back
 
 184 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 to town, or had embarked for France? It 
 seemed really a comfort to him when I was 
 able exactly to inform him what road you had 
 taken, and that you had ordered your letters 
 to be forwarded to Ryde." 
 
 " You were very kind to busy yourself so 
 gratuitously about my affairs," said Lord Fare- 
 ham, somewhat bitterly. 
 
 " But what is all this about?" interrupted Lord 
 Thomas Aymer. "Why, Driftington, this is 
 a second edition of your history, or mystery, 
 about the Clarendon and the pocket-book ! Do 
 you really mean that the vagabond by my side 
 has given that worthy man, the Earl of Clan- 
 tullin, so much uneasiness ? — Fie, fie, fie ! 
 Fareham ! — ^running away fi-om your wife before 
 you are married?" 
 
 " Mr. Driftington exaggerates a very simple 
 circumstance," replied Lord Fareham, dread- 
 ing that Lord Arhngham might overhear. " I 
 quitted Brighton a few hours earher than 
 I intended ; and the note which was to have
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 185 
 
 conveyed to Lord Clantullin intelligence of my 
 change of plans, appears to have been mis- 
 laid." 
 
 " But what the deuce took you to Ryde, of 
 all places in the world, at this season of the 
 year?" persisted Lord Thomas. "What sins 
 have you been committing, to deserve such a 
 penance ?" 
 
 " / left Brighton only the day before yester- 
 day," said Driftington, perceiving that, if Lord 
 Thomas paused for a reply. Lord Fareham also 
 paused about making it, — " and called at Lord 
 Clantullin's to know if they had any letter or 
 message for you." 
 
 " Because you supposed him to be at Ryde ?" 
 interrupted Lord Thomas, with a laugh. 
 
 " No, — because I knew him to be in town. 
 My friend, Dick Barton, who is aide-de-camp 
 at Portsmouth, wrote me word, a few days ago, 
 he had seen you stepping out of the Ryde 
 packet," continued he, addressing the discom- 
 fitted Lord Fareham.
 
 186 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 " By Jove, Driftington, your correspondences 
 beat those of old Solomon in the Stranger!" 
 cried Lord Thomas. "I do believe you keep up 
 an overland mail with Timbuctoo, and start a 
 private steamer for Van Dieman's Land ! — How 
 on earth can you find time for your universal 
 post-bag?" 
 
 " Or interest for all the rubbish it seems to 
 contain ?" — added Lord Fareham, bitterly. 
 
 "What is this, Fareham, about a tour in 
 the Isle of Wight?" — demanded Lord Arlingham, 
 whom the conversation was gradually reaching. 
 
 " Only, my Lord, that your hopeful son has 
 been playing truant from Brighton; and that 
 poor Driftington was the bell-man employed by 
 Lord ClantuUin's family to go round and cry 
 him !" said Lord Thomas, coolly. 
 
 " Cry for him, you mean I" said Driftington, 
 without perceiving the ridicule he was attaching 
 to himself. " I can assure you they were 
 seriously uneasy tiU I was able to acquaint them 
 with his whereabout."
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 187 
 
 " I was afraid poor Clantullin had too much 
 to be seriously uneasy about in Lady Mary's 
 health," observed Lord Arlingham, gravely, " to 
 leave him much leisure for lesser cares. But 
 by ^he way, Fareham, this little caprice of 
 yours accounts for De Lisle's writing to me the 
 other day for your address, and complaining 
 that some letter of his had been opened and 
 returned to him from Brighton, because you 
 left a wrong address at your hotel." 
 
 " How very strange they should have opened 
 it, instead of applying to me r cried Driftington, 
 so eagerly, that it instantly occurred to Lord 
 Fareham he had some hand in advising the 
 measure. 
 
 " I answered Sir James De Lisle," said Lord 
 Arlingham, " that there must have been some 
 strange mistake ; but that I was expecting you 
 daily home from ClantuUin's, and that he had 
 better i-e-inclose his letter to my house. In- 
 stead of re- inclosing it, he called a couple of 
 days ago, and left it. I have to thank Mr.
 
 188 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 Harbottle Driftington for recalling the matter 
 to my mind ; for, to own the truth, it had es- 
 caped my recollection." 
 
 " It is not often poor Driftington is so civilly 
 thanked for his interference !" observed Lord 
 Thomas, laughing. 
 
 " I met De Lisle this afternoon in St. 
 James's Street," — observed Driftington (not 
 choosing to hear) — " accompanied by a young 
 man I never saw before — some country neigh- 
 bour, I suppose ; or, more probably, some near 
 relation — for there was a decided resemblance 
 between them." 
 
 " A son of Sir James's, for a thousand ! I 
 have heard that, for as precise as he is, he was 
 a sad roue in his youth!" observed Lord Thomas. 
 " There, Driftington ! I have given you a 
 famous clue to follow up — a capital piece of 
 mischief to unravel! Pray, how old was the 
 genteel youth that De Lisle was chaperoning ?" — 
 
 " About Fareham's age — but by no means 
 like him. The young man had more of Lord
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 189 
 
 Arlingham's countenance. There is some rela- 
 tionship, if I recollect, between the families ?" — 
 
 " None that will assist the fabrication of 
 your scandal ; for it is on the side of Fareham's 
 mother, not of his father," said Lord Thomas, 
 little suspecting the annoyance inflicted on his 
 neighbour by every idle word he was uttering. 
 But for the solemn assurance given him by Sir 
 James De Lisle of the death of the sickly 
 infant of Lord Arlingham, Lord Fareham's 
 anxiety and suspicions would indeed have been 
 strongly excited by the circumstance related. 
 And yet, how was he to pin his faith upon any 
 assurance uttered by De Lisle? How could 
 he confide in the word of a man who, for more 
 than twenty years past, had been hourly con- 
 niving in an imposture ? 
 
 " How glad you must have been, my dear 
 Fareham," observed Driftington, selecting an- 
 other agreeable topic for his frivolous gossip, "to 
 hear of this wonderful amendment in Lady 
 Mary Lorn ! I know not what miracle was
 
 190 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 accomplished by your visit to Brighton ; but 
 certain it is, that, ever since, Hopwig has given 
 Lord Clantullin hopes of her ultimate re- 
 covery. Hopwig, of course, fancies her Lady- 
 ship's improvement to have arisen from some 
 horrible course of drugs of his prescribing. 
 But whatever the cause of the change, it has 
 not chanced too soon; for, 'pon honour, the 
 looks of Lady Evelyn were becoming quite 
 alarming. In your place, my dear fellow, / 
 certainly should not allow such close attendance ! 
 — Pulmonary complaints are now so well- 
 known to be contagious, — " 
 
 " Hereditary, not contagious," interrupted 
 Lord Thomas. "However, let us hope that 
 neither of those lovely sisters have inherited the 
 malady of her mother." 
 
 "The malady of their mother," observed 
 Lord Fareham, gravely, " was grief for the loss 
 of an only son." 
 
 " That could scarcely be the origin of Lady 
 Mary Lom's disorder, I suppose?" observed Lord
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 191 
 
 Thomas, with a demure smile. " However, 
 when people have the faculty of dying of 
 grief, they are not supposed to be particular as 
 to the kind of grief. The loss of a son, or 
 brother, or lover, or even lap-dog, will do, — 
 when nothing more afflicting is to be had." 
 
 " It is scarcely fair of persons enjoying, like 
 ourselves, robust health, to decide on the re- 
 sults of constitutional irritability in a delicate 
 and nervous woman," said Lord Fareham, evi- 
 dently displeased. " Grandison, what news 
 from Paris this afternoon ? — I fancy the courier 
 is arrived?" — 
 
 The under secretary, thus apostrophized, im- 
 mediately afforded the wished-for interruption, 
 — ^by reciting a precis of the concise-in-itself 
 " premier Paris" of the Journal des Debats. 
 •—The conversation immediately took a political 
 turn. 
 
 That night, instead of accompanying the 
 other young men of the party to the opera, to 
 witness the evolutions of a corps de ballet
 
 192 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 esteemed in London in proportion to its audacity 
 of nakedness and powers of dislocation, he re- 
 turned home; — sorely perplexed by learning that 
 a confidential letter, addressed to him by Sir 
 James De Lisle, had first been opened at 
 Brighton, for the amusement of the waiters of 
 an hotel, and afterwards passed into the hands 
 of the Earl of Arlingham. 
 
 *' If he should still forget to give me the 
 letter, I shall never find courage to ask him for 
 it !" was his vexatious reflection. " But, alas ! 
 I have little need of haste to learn the contents. 
 Sir James will take care to apprize me to- 
 morrow of the arrival of my enemy and tormentor." 
 
 On the morrow, however, he hstened with 
 superfluous anguish of spirit to every ring at 
 the bell, or knock at the door. No Sir James 
 made his appearance ; a forbearance explained 
 on the following morning by an announcement 
 in the newspapers, among the departures, of — 
 " Sir James De Lisle, from his house in Park 
 Place, for the Isle of Wight."
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 193 
 
 " You seem to have bitten all the world with 
 your mania, my dear fellow !" cried Mr. Har- 
 bottle Driftington, officiously pointing out the 
 words to him, as they sat lounging over the 
 papers at the Carlton. — " See ! here is De 
 Lisle already following your example ! Now, 
 what on earth can take that stiff routinier old 
 bachelor across the water, at this season of the 
 year ? — He has no plighted wife, (that I know 
 of), to quarrel with, and run away from." — 
 
 Without noticing the sneering inference, 
 Lord Fareham could not help deducing evil 
 auguries from the fact. He could entertain 
 little doubt that De Lisle was gone in quest of 
 him ; nor did it surprise him when, a few days 
 afterwards, the newspapers again announced 
 among the " fashionable changes," his arrival at 
 Brighton from the Isle of Wight. 
 
 " His next remove will be to town," thought 
 the young man ; "and then, all must be brought 
 to an issue. Another week, and the time will 
 have elapsed for which I pledged away my 
 
 VOL. I. K
 
 194 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 free-will. No matter now, how soon the bubble 
 bursts. The worst is over. After what I have 
 borne, I shall learn to sustain — ay, sustain 
 with patience, — even the pang of an eternal 
 separation from my father." 
 
 But though he thus attempted to cheer him- 
 self into courage, the days, as they went by, 
 found him sinking and sinking. Involuntarily 
 drawn in the train of Lord Arlingham into 
 the vortex of political life, the deference con- 
 ceded to him by the leading men of the day, 
 in consequence of the flattering verdict upon 
 his abihties pronounced by the uncompromis- 
 ing Duke of Hythe, was beginning to inspire 
 him with an appetite for the distinctions of 
 public life. Officialism is a vocation, like any 
 other. The hankering after place exhibited by 
 those to whom salary and perquisites form no 
 object, sufficiently proves it : and as certain 
 passions, like certain flowers, have their appointed 
 hour for blowing, ambition now put forth its 
 shoots in the soul of Lord Fareham, in spite
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 195 
 
 of all adversities of time and place. The hour 
 was come for one reared and nurtured as he 
 had been, to experience and avow profound 
 interest in the fortunes of his native country. 
 
 It happened that, in spite of the accession 
 of strength to government, insured by the Coali- 
 tion, a great crisis was at that moment para- 
 lyzing the activity of the administration led by 
 Lord Arlingham and the Duke of Hythe. The 
 opposition was factious and insolent, the ministry 
 harassed into rashness; nor could the nominal 
 son, who had never felt more reverently and 
 affectionately towards the Earl than at that 
 trying moment, refrain from the most eager 
 interest in every official conference that took 
 place, or an earnest desire to become, in the 
 face of the kingdom, the champion and partisan 
 of him whose bold and manly policy exposed 
 him to cruel misinterpretation. Even in the 
 eyes of ministers, Lord Fareham was beginning 
 to justify the warmth of applause lavished by 
 the Duke of Hythe on his abilities, by the 
 
 K 2
 
 196 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 logical force of argument with which, on more 
 than one occasion, at the table of his Grace, 
 or the Earl, he expounded and vindicated 
 the vilified measures of the Coalition. 
 
 " You are injuring us, my dear Arlingham, 
 you are doing us a positive injury," pleaded the 
 Duke to his colleague, " by not compelling that 
 boy to take his seat, and serve us where good 
 service is imminently wanted. We require the 
 rejuvenization of a little vigorous blood infused 
 into us. Next month, the Irish question comes 
 before the house. We have no one to support 
 it but such stale old hands as Glozingley, Rats- 
 hiU, Lynch, and Dregsly, all of whom have 
 worn their wits thread-bare on the subject. 
 Their minds have been turned inside out, as 
 regards Ireland ; and their thrice-told tale 
 makes no more impression on the house 
 or the country, than the whirl of a smoke- 
 jack ! — Fareham, so truly in earnest, yet so 
 free from the frothy fervour of enthusiasm, 
 would work miracles in our favour. — Let me
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 197 
 
 hope you will enable him to give us the 
 advantage of his abilities !" — 
 
 To refuse was impossible. Yet, after 
 the startling shock of unexpected opposition 
 on the part of his son, Lord Arlingham ex- 
 perienced the utmost reluctance to propose 
 to him even the commonest concession. Hurt 
 to the soul by finding his influence so 
 much less than he supposed, delicacy for- 
 bad him to exercise his paternal authority, in 
 matters where he had always preached free- 
 will and liberty of conscience. On the present 
 occasion, indeed, he stood committed both to- 
 wards the Duke, and his son. He had pro- 
 mised Lord Fareham to leave him at liberty 
 to act, provided he exhibited no opposition 
 during the ministerial visit at Fareham Castle ; 
 yet had promised the Duke of Hythe that 
 the support of his son should be forthcoming, 
 when the hour of attack drew near ! 
 
 Right welcome therefore, was it to Lord 
 Arlingham, when, a fe^ days afterwards, on
 
 198 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 his way to Whitehall, he espied the travelling 
 chariot of Sir James De Lisle, making its way 
 into town. 
 
 For De Lisle as an individual, he had always 
 experienced the sort of unavowed antipathy 
 which a man is apt to cherish against the 
 nearest male relative of his wife, when possessing 
 her unlimited confidence. Such, however, had 
 been the fond attachment between himself and 
 the late Countess, that he had less to appre- 
 hend than most men, from conjugal complain- 
 ings. But he knew that Sir James stood high 
 in the esteem of his cousin; that they had 
 been reared together as brother and sister ; and 
 that, on her death-bed, she had entreated the 
 Baronet, in the event of her Henry becoming 
 fatherless, to be his protector and guide. From 
 all this, a certain degree of jealousy had arisen 
 in the mind of the Earl, rendering the cold and 
 watchful character of De Lisle doubly disagree- 
 able to him. But situated as he now was with 
 regard to his son, he resolved to turn to account
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 199 
 
 what had often annoyed him, by employing 
 the influence of so near a kinsman in the 
 office of mediation. 
 
 It chanced, therefore, that before the object 
 of Sir James's visit to town had been accom- 
 plished in an interview with Lord Fareham, 
 he was privately visited by the Earl, and can- 
 vassed for his vote and interest to modify what 
 Lord Arlingham described as the waywardness 
 of his son ; and determine him either promptly 
 to take his place in the ministerial ranks, or 
 throw down the gauntlet at once, and enable 
 them to reckon him as friend or foe. 
 
 For De Lisle, this appeal created a wholly 
 unexpected accession of strength, as regarded 
 his personal authority over the young man 
 whom it was his object to reduce to tame- 
 ness and submission. From the line of con- 
 duct pursued towards him by Fareham, since 
 their terrible explanation, he had reason to 
 apprehend that the young Lord would, as long 
 as possible, evade a private interview. But to
 
 200 .THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 his great surprise, Lord Fareham, who, under 
 the pressure of Lady Evelyn's desertion had 
 become utterly desperate, was 'the first to seek 
 him. 
 
 " I only heard last night from Driftington 
 of your arrival in town," said he, on entering 
 the drawing-room of Sir James, in Park Place, 
 " or I should have waited upon you before. 
 You doubtless desire to see me. — I am here." 
 
 " And most welcome !" exclaimed De Lisle, 
 endeavouring to answer with the utmost cheer- 
 fulness. " I am always desirous to see you, 
 my dearest Fareham ; but, as you justly infer, 
 especially so at the present moment." 
 
 The glance which passed between the two, 
 while shaking hands, exhibited Lord Fareham 
 to the man who thus warmly greeted him, so 
 wasted in body, so feverish of aspect, that his 
 wild eyes and parched lips sufficiently attested 
 the sufferings he had undergone, since their 
 last meeting; while Lord Fareham was almost 
 startled by the triumphant air of De Lisle.
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 201 
 
 He seemed to have grown ten years younger. 
 His hair was arranged with studied care ; and 
 his dress, heretofore precise and of the cut 
 of a bygone day, had assumed a fashionable 
 form. He appeared bent on demonstrating to 
 the young man, whom he had recently an- 
 nounced as his heir, that he had no immediate 
 prospect of inheritance ! — 
 
 " You have given me a wild-goose chase after 
 you, my dear Henry," resumed De Lisle. 
 " That officious ass, Driftington, assured me 
 you were gone to spend a month at the Isle 
 of Wight. Having followed you thither with 
 infructuous search, I thought it likely I should 
 find you at no great distance from Clantul- 
 lin's." 
 
 " The papers informed me that you had 
 visited Brighton," said Lord Fareham, coldly. 
 
 " I might, however, have spared myself the 
 trouble of the journey, had you deigned to 
 answer the letter I addressed to you there, a 
 fortnight ago," said De Lisle, good humoured- 
 
 K 3
 
 202 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 ly. " However, I am too happy to see you 
 again, to find fault now." 
 
 " Thanks also to the interference of Drifting- 
 ton, the letter you mention never reached my 
 hands," replied Lord Fareham. 
 
 " I have so far the less reason to repent my 
 journey," observed De Lisle, in a more con- 
 fidential tone, " that it served to apprize me 
 of what I learned, with equal surprise and 
 regret, that a coolness has arisen between your- 
 self and Lady Evelyn Lorn." 
 
 " If you learned it from herself, the fact can 
 have caused you little surprise ! — " observed 
 Lord Fareham, haughtily. " Since she so far 
 confided in you, as to relate what it was agreed 
 between us should at present be kept sacred, 
 even from her father, it is doubtless in requital 
 of the stiU more important confidence you had 
 previously reposed in herself" 
 
 " I do not understand you? — " said Sir James, 
 mildly. " From Lady Evelyn, I learned nothing. 
 It was by poor Lady Mary — by the invalid.
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 203 
 
 (whose health by the way, has greatly improved 
 within the last ten days), I was informed that, 
 by mutual consent, the engagement between 
 yourself and her sister was at an end." 
 
 " And did she not tell you why ? — " abruptly 
 demanded Lord Fareham. 
 
 " On the contrary, it was to me, as to your 
 nearest relative, she addressed herself for in- 
 formation. — At present, she said, it appeared 
 the desire of both parties to keep the 
 rupture a secret from your families; and she 
 found it impossible to extract from Lady 
 Evelyn any reasonable motive for the sudden 
 change of sentiments between you. — All her 
 sister could be tempted to declare was that her 
 own icere changed ; — that, though she had not 
 ceased to esteem, she had ceased to love ; — 
 and that you fully coincided in her desire that 
 your troth-plight should be set aside." 
 
 " And do you affect ignorance of the cause? — " 
 inquired Lord Fareham, with bitterness. 
 
 " Entire ignorance. — It cannot be connected
 
 204 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 with the secret which, according to your solemn 
 pledge, still remains sacred between us ?" 
 
 " It has not been divulged by me ! — " obseiTed 
 Lord Fareham, coldly. " By what means it 
 reached the ears of Lady Evelyn Lorn so as 
 to forestal the poor self-satisfaction of avowal, 
 I will as little pretend to guess, as the motives 
 which could have suggested the information 
 secretly imparted to her." 
 
 " If your accusation point at me," said Sir 
 James, colouring to the temples, "I swear to 
 you that, with the exception of your single self, 
 not a syllable on the subject ever escaped my 
 lips !"— 
 
 Lord Fareham was unable to repress a gesture 
 of contemptuous incredulity. 
 
 " On my honour, — on my faith as a man, — 
 as a gentlemariy^' he repeated, (with an un- 
 intentional emphasis on the latter word, to 
 which Lord Fareham instantly assigned an un- 
 gracious interpretation), — " I never breathed one 
 word to her, or any other person. If you still
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 205 
 
 doubt me, Henry, — apply to Lady Evelyn for 
 the solution of the mystery. Ask her whether 
 I ever afforded a hint of what you declare her 
 to have assigned as the motive of her desertion. 
 But that you do declare it, I should state it 
 to be impossible. — You know best. — Between 
 persons situated as you have been with her, 
 there can be no reserves. Let her vindicate 
 herself and me by confessing the origin of her 
 change of feeling !" 
 
 " There can be, and there needs no vindica- 
 tion ! — " replied Fareham, in a hoarse voice. 
 " Enough that she has taught me the first of 
 a thousand bitter lessons, — and that we have 
 parted for ever ! — " 
 
 " If that be the case, and you submit with 
 so good a grace to the separation," observed 
 De Lisle, " I can only regard it as a matter for 
 gratulation. — I confess it struck me before 
 that there existed little real sympathy between 
 your character, and that of Lady Evelyn. The 
 Lorns are a cold race. Infirm, lymphatic, in-
 
 206 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 dolent, either of those girls of ClantuUin's, is 
 little qualified to become the bride of a young 
 enthusiast like yourself — For both your sakes, 
 Lady Evelyn has perhaps decided wisely. — But 
 I have other and graver matters to treat upon. 
 I come to you, Henry, as an ambassador from 
 your father." 
 
 " From Lord Arlingham ? — " said Lord Fare- 
 ham, firmly, feeling that, from the lips of De 
 Lisle, any other appellation was a mockery. 
 
 " Conscious, though without of course sur- 
 mising why, that his personal influence with 
 you is, in some degree, diminished — " 
 
 " It is not diminished! — " cried Lord Fareham. 
 " Never did I regard him with sentiments of 
 more respectful admiration than at this mo- 
 ment." 
 
 "Respectful admiration is not what he re- 
 quires of his son. He asks obedience, — he 
 asks affection." — 
 
 " Of my obedience, who has been the means 
 of depriving him ?" cried Lord Fareham, with
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 20? 
 
 a glance of indignation. " It is you, De Lisle, 
 you, and only you, who have rendered it impos- 
 sible for me to submit, on certain points, to his 
 desires. He wishes me to embark, as the heir 
 of his name and fortunes, in public life !" — 
 
 " And why not ?" coolly demanded Sir James. 
 " Even if you take the rash and unadvised step 
 which is to deprive him of the comfort and 
 happiness of his future hfe, what is there to 
 prevent your repaying the happy hours you have 
 dwelt under his roof, by supporting in parlia- 
 ment, with all the powers of your mind, the 
 administration in which his honour and credit 
 are embarked ? — Away with the boyish Quixot- 
 ism, Henry, which, for the gratification of your 
 own pride, would sharpen the edge of the 
 weapon which is about to convey a deadly blow 
 to Lord Arlingham !" — 
 
 The young man, so anxious to maintain a show 
 of manly firmness in presence of his persecutor, 
 was vexed to find his colour come and go, in 
 utter self-betrayal. The arguments of Sir
 
 208 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 James were unanswerable. There could not be 
 a question, that the kindest course to pursue 
 towards the minister who affixed a value to 
 his services, was to devote himself to his party ; 
 nay, to abstain from any hint or revelation 
 that was likely to divert his mind from his 
 responsible duties, at least till the close of the 
 session. 
 
 " Lord Arlingham sends me to you," re- 
 peated Sir James, " to entreat, as a favour, that 
 which, at present, he supposes himself entitled 
 to exact as a right. He wants you to take 
 your seat within the next ten days ; and make 
 your dehut in political life on the Irish question, 
 some weeks hence. You cannot — you must 
 not disappoint him. I take upon my own head 
 the responsibility of the act, when eventually 
 all is disclosed. Should any odium attach to 
 your having accepted office as his son, I will 
 boldly avow — to his face and that of the world, 
 — the arguments by which I conquered your 
 opposition."
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 209 
 
 " If I thought that a capacity so meagre as 
 mine, — if I dared hope that my inexperience — 
 my feebleness — " Lord Fareham was be- 
 ginning. 
 
 " Absurd !" interrupted Sir James. " Examine 
 of what materials the house is composed ! — Ob- 
 serve the value they set upon even such men as 
 Driftington, who have nothing beyond zeal and 
 fluent plausibility to recommend them. How 
 much more, then, upon yourself, — who are in 
 earnest, — and who have vigour and cultivation 
 of mind, to figure with honour in their cause. * 
 Let me consider this matter settled, Henry. 
 Let me have the supreme satisfaction of con- 
 veying the cheering news to Lord Arhngham ?" 
 
 "As I have already repeated to you," ob- 
 served Lord Fareham, reluctantly giving way, 
 " you have acquired the right of disposing of 
 me as you please. Why, therefore, should I 
 indulge in a peevish longing after independence? 
 You well know that I am fettered, soul and 
 body, to your footstool.''
 
 210 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 " You have indulged to the utmost the sug- 
 gestions of a morbid sensibility," resumed De 
 Lisle, "by prematurely breaking off your ma- 
 trimonial engagement. Be content ! Let this 
 suffice you. When the unhappy moment 
 arrives for a full explanation between Lord 
 Clantullin and poor Arlingham — " 
 
 " My dear De Lisle, how are you ? So, so, 
 so ! — you have caught this unprincipled truant, 
 at last !" cried the old- woman's- voice of Mr. Har- 
 bottle Driftington, who now burst into the 
 room. " I saw Fareham's cab at the door, 
 and made my way up, whether your fellows 
 would or no, — determined to have my share 
 of the objurgation you are doubtless bestowing 
 on him !" 
 
 De Lisle, who, having accomplished the object 
 of his trying interview, was by no means 
 sorry to have it interrupted, entered, with a 
 readiness most provoking to Lord Fareham, 
 into the bantering humour of the intruder. 
 Walking towards the window, the young man
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 2 1 1 
 
 affected to turn a deaf ear to the conver- 
 sation. 
 
 " I have not been a very hard task-master, as 
 you may perceive," said he ; " for, just as you 
 came in, Fareham agreed to drive me to 
 Berkeley Square, where I have business with 
 his father." 
 
 " But w^hat was that I heard you saying, as 
 I came in," persisted Driftington, with his 
 usual familiar inquisitiveness, " about an expla- 
 nation between Lord ClantuUin and Lord 
 Arlingham ? — I hope the rumours I hear from 
 Brighton are not correct ?" — 
 
 " What rumours ? — That there is going to be 
 a new line of railroad established to Worthing ?" 
 inquired De Lisle, in order to give time to his 
 agitated young friend to collect himself. 
 
 " No, no, no ! — that the match is off betwixt 
 Fareham and Lady Evelyn ! I had a letter 
 yesterday from Hopwig, containing — but no 
 matter ! The only thing likely to interest you 
 in it, was his avowal of a suspicion that — But
 
 212 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 you must know twice as much on the subject 
 as Hop wig, my dear De Lisle ? — " cried Drifting- 
 ton, again interrupting himself; " you, who are 
 just come from Brighton, and whom Hopwig 
 states, in his letter, to be never out of Lord 
 ClantuUin's house ?" 
 
 " Your friend, Mr. Hopwig's singular misre- 
 presentations on this point, probably arise from 
 the fact of my having thought it my duty to 
 hint to my friend, ClantuUin, the over-assiduity 
 of his visits," observed De Lisle, obviously 
 nettled. — " I am convinced that Lady Mary's 
 illness arose from what produces half the 
 indisposition of all English people, — namely, 
 over-apothecarization. Perceiving that the little 
 man was about to attempt the same system with 
 Lady Evelyn (who is only over-fatigued by 
 nursing her sister) I ventured to interfere." 
 
 " Is Lady Evelyn really iU ?" — inquired Lord 
 Fareham, in a tone of anxious surprise. 
 
 " Listen to the hypocrite, with his pretended 
 sympathy for the ailments caused by his misde-
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 213 
 
 meanours I" cried Driftington, facetiously. 
 " Why, my dear fellow, don't we all know 
 how you behaved at Brighton, — driving the 
 whole family out of their wits by your flighti- 
 ness and inconsistency? — Moreover, I can tell 
 you that some country neighbours of De Lisle's 
 arrived there before I left (a Sir Something-or- 
 other Middleton and his lady) who, by the 
 nature of their inquiries and interest in your 
 welfare, gave us to understand you had 
 been flirting abominably with their pretty 
 little daughter! — eh, De Lisle? — Is it a true 
 bill ? — Did Fareham prove a recreant knight to 
 the lovely Lady Evelyn, for the sake of little 
 Middleton's flaxen ringlets?" — 
 
 " Have you been circulating this new fabri- 
 cation through the town ? — " cried Fareham, im- 
 patiently. 
 
 " Not I!" — was the flippant reply of the busy- 
 body. — " I took upon myself the pleasanter task 
 of consoling your Ariadne — that is, the Middle- 
 ton Ariadne; (for it seems you are a double
 
 214 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 traitor, and have twice deserted) leaving to Sir 
 James the more responsible duty of making the 
 agreeable to — " 
 
 "My dear Fareham — we shall be late for 
 your father ?" cried De Lisle, anxious perhaps 
 lest some serious quarrel should ensue between 
 his guests. " Driftington, I am afraid we must 
 make no stranger of you, and turn you out. 
 — We have an appointment with Lord Arling- 
 ham ; and business appointments are sacred." 
 
 " Business appointments !" — repeated Drift- 
 ington aloud, as he accompanied them down stairs, 
 as one of the party. " The report is true, then, 
 which I heard to-day for the first time at the 
 Athenaeum, that Fareham is coming in for 
 Cranwich ? — My dear fellow, I wish you joy ! 
 You know how anxious I have always been 
 that you should get into parliament ! — You 
 know how steadily I have always predicted that 
 you would make di figure in parliament." — 
 
 " At present, my dear Driftington, I wish you 
 would allow him to figure in his own cab, as we
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 215 
 
 happen to be in haste !" — interrupted De Lisle, 
 quietly placing him aside. " He shall answer 
 your innumerable questions the first leisure day 
 after delivering his maiden speech." 
 
 And forthwith, leaving Harbottle Driftington, 
 still nodding, smiling, and chattering on the 
 doorsteps in the teeth of an easterly wind, — 
 away trotted Lord Fareham's .fine cab-horse to- 
 wards St. James's Street on his way to Berkeley 
 Square, as if the load of care it was conveying 
 were but of feather-weight.
 
 216 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Give not me counsel, 
 Nor let no comforter delight my ear, 
 But such a one whose wrongs do suit with mine. 
 Bring me a father that so loved his child. 
 Whose joy in him is overwhelmed like mine. 
 And bid him speak of patience. 
 
 SHAKSPEARE. 
 
 Before the close of the month, the clubs of 
 London were ringing with applauses of the 
 maiden speech of the minister's son. A maiden 
 speech, like a maiden's nay, is apt to be mis- 
 trusted by the bitter sceptic^ of the world. On 
 the present occasion, however, the steadiness 
 and good sense of the speaker, were too well- 
 known to his party to admit of any fear that 
 the effort might prove a momentary inspi-
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 217 
 
 ration, or the got-up essay of a pains-taking 
 student. It was plain to be seen, that the 
 newly-launched vessel was a three-decker. 
 
 The joy of Lord Arlingham, though as pru- 
 dently controlled as became a man of thirty 
 years' experience in official life, was deep and 
 heartfelt. The only son of his mother who is 
 a widow, is often not dearer to her heart, than 
 the only son of the widower, to his paternal 
 pride ; and Lord Fareham was truly, as asserted 
 by De Lisle, an object of adoration to the Earl. 
 
 Through life, he had afforded the sole solace 
 to the cares of his Lordship's official life. Public 
 men are apt to seek in the pleasures of hospi- 
 tality or delights of literature, a resource 
 against the thwartings of their harassing career. 
 But the comfort of Lord Arlingham had been 
 in his son ; and the blossoming of an aloe to the 
 poor gardener who has tended its barrenness all 
 the years of his life, affords not a more crown- 
 ing compensation, than the moment when hui>- 
 dreds, hurrying from the House which he had 
 
 VOL. I. L
 
 218 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 not found courage to enter during the attempt 
 of his son, apprized him that a new patriot was 
 born to his country ; — a far greater triumph than 
 when milder voices apprized him, three and 
 twenty years before, that a son was bom to 
 himself. 
 
 The meeting between them, when the lapse 
 of a few hours brought them together again in 
 Berkeley Square, was manly and affecting. 
 Neither of them hazarded the smallest allusion 
 to the event of the day. But the hearts of 
 both were fuU, — that of the Earl with joy and 
 pride, — that of Lord Fareham with grief and 
 humiliation ; and the result was the same in 
 both instances, — namely, a silent pressure of the 
 hand, followed by incoherent allusions in a 
 husky voice to subjects of general interest, or 
 rather, of no interest at all. 
 
 The following day, however. Lord Fareham 
 had the satisfaction of learning from Sir James 
 De Lisle, by whom he had been carefuUy drilled 
 through his initiatory duties in the House,
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 219 
 
 that the satisfaction of the Earl knew no 
 bounds. 
 
 " I was almost afraid for his self-possession, 
 while receiving the congratulations of his 
 colleagues on your triumph," — said he. " But 
 with them he was of course on his guard. — It 
 was only on finding himself alone with me (of 
 whose sympathy, as your nearest friend, he was 
 secure) that his feelings found vent in tears. 
 Yes, my dear Henry ! — the man, so taxed by 
 the opposition press with hardness and insensi- 
 bility, shed tears while dwelling upon the ho- 
 nours you were about to attach to his ancestral 
 name." 
 
 " And what were your feelings at that mo- 
 ment ?" was the stern rejoinder of Lord 
 Fareham. 
 
 " Far from painful, I assure you. I saw 
 before me a great and good man, who, thanks 
 to my interposition, however lawless and unau- 
 thorised, has enjoyed twenty years of happiness, 
 withheld by the hand of Providence ; and who, 
 
 L 2
 
 220 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 if you were governed by me, might go to the 
 grave, still happy, because still deceived." 
 
 Lord Fareham gravely shook his head. 
 
 " I have consented to a postponement of our 
 eclair cissement" said he. " Do not expect my 
 weakness to concede more." 
 
 " I expect your strength to concede more," 
 persisted Sir James. " The best proof we can 
 give of greatness of mind, is to rise superior 
 to our human position. Surmount the influence 
 of yours — rise to the level of the fortunes you 
 have accidently attained !" — 
 
 " And wrong the lawful heir of the Arling- 
 ham title and estates ?" — 
 
 " Do you suppose that the Earl, setting all 
 tie of kindred aside, would a moment hesitate, 
 were it in his power to select an heir, between 
 yourself and a cousin he despises like Sir George 
 Strickland?"— 
 
 " I will not attempt an answer to such 
 casuistry!" replied the young man, coldly. 
 "Truth is, in my opinion, the attribute by
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 221 
 
 which we approach nearest to the Divinity ; and 
 since my acquiescence in the system of fraud in 
 which I have been reluctantly involved, I have 
 sunk so low in my own esteem, that life has 
 become a burthen to me. What must Evelyn 
 Lorn think of my proceedings ? — Has not my 
 conduct fully justified her contemptuous rejec- 
 tion ? Have I not proved my spirit to be gro- 
 velling in proportion to the low birth which 
 she despises ?" — 
 
 " It was Lady Evelyn's express wish, if you 
 remember, to take upon herself the responsi- 
 bility of your rupture. To both her father 
 and your own, she most deliberately made 
 the breach of engagement her act and 
 deed." 
 
 " By which she has merely incurred the 
 stigma of feminine caprice, in place of that of 
 heartless pride," rejoined Lord Fareham. "But 
 though the few cold lines she deigned to address 
 to me on the occasion, expressly required that, 
 if I ever loved her, I should assign no other
 
 222 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 motive for her conduct, than the incompatibility 
 of temper she chose to assume, she did not, 
 I am certain, anticipate that the deception 
 which by some unaccountable means became 
 known to her, would be persisted in by myself. 
 Had she not preserved such strict self-seclusion 
 ever since, (apprehending, probably, the contempt 
 with which the world is apt to visit faithless- 
 ness to such engagements as ours!) I should 
 have taken occasion, to make her aware how 
 recently — how very recently— -I had become a 
 party to the scheme of imposition, and the 
 motives which determined my delay in its re- 
 dress. But, from the first, she forbad me to 
 write to her. From the first, she declined 
 receiving my letters — afraid of contamination to 
 her nobleness, from the mere handwriting of 
 the beggar's bantling! — ^You, who have still 
 access to her presence, — you, De Lisle, who fre- 
 quent her father's house, ought to have done 
 me this justice, — a justice I have been too 
 proud to ask."
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 223 
 
 " If you remember," mildly remonstrated De 
 Lisle, " you expressly conditioned with me, 
 from the moment of your rupture, never to 
 mention your name to Lady Evelyn !" 
 
 " And you have never done so ?" — demanded 
 Lord Fareham, fixing a scrutinizing glance upon 
 his face. 
 
 " Never ! — Lady Mary, who since her conva- 
 lescence is beginning to take an interest in the 
 movements of society proportionate to the 
 length of time she was debarred by the in- 
 firmity of her health from mixing in the world, 
 occasionally cross-questions me, in her sister's 
 presence, concerning your opening prospects and 
 recent triumphs." 
 
 " And Evelyn, of course, deigns not to take 
 a part in the conversation." 
 
 " Neither by word nor look ! She appears to 
 experience a sort of resentment towards you, as 
 though she had narrowly escaped injury at your 
 hands." 
 
 ^' She is right !" cried Lord Fareham, bitterly.
 
 224 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 " She might, indeed, have become the wife of 
 an outcast !"— 
 
 " It sometimes strikes me," observed Sir 
 James, carefully watching the countenance of 
 his companion, "that had poor little Mary 
 been the object of your attachment in place of 
 her sister, she would not have so readily re- 
 signed you !" 
 
 " Lady Mary is a charming girl," said the 
 young man, with a heavy sigh. " I loved her 
 dearly as a sister. Any sister of Evelyn would 
 have been precious to me. But Mary, from her 
 gentle and affectionate disposition, endeared 
 herself to me beyond expression. In any other 
 light than the sister of my affianced wife, she 
 never, of course, one moment, presented her- 
 self to my mind — never could and never will. 
 I am thankful to her, however, for her sympathy. 
 — Beggars have need to be thankful." 
 
 This singular hint soon afterwards received 
 confirmation from an opposite quarter. Lord 
 Fareham, true to the line of conduct he had
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 225 
 
 V 
 
 . i 
 
 .;• 
 
 traced for himself, was now too thoroughly 
 engrossed by the duties of parliament, to take 
 much thought of the rumours of society ; — and 
 save when seized by the button for gossip- 
 persecution by Mr. Harbottle Driftington, or 
 seated at some political dinner near Lord Thomas 
 Aymer, he heard Httle of the marryings and 
 givings in marriage, the balls and dejeuners of 
 the beau monde, or the loves and hatreds of 
 opera dancers, or any other of the important 
 topics which appear to engross the minds of 
 the greatest of public men, when let out of 
 their iron cages for recreation. 
 
 Forced by the system to which he had bound 
 himself into acceptance of office, this evStrange- 
 ment from the lighter pleasures of life became 
 daily more pronounced ; and he had, of course, 
 the satisfaction of learning from Aymer and 
 Driftington that his old associates thought him 
 ** growing a deuce of a prig ;" and that a lively 
 duchess of his acquaintance never saw them 
 without inquiring why Lord Fareham seemed so 
 
 L 3
 
 226 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 determined to bury himself, before his time, in 
 the glorious obscurity of Westminster Abbey ? — 
 
 All this was matter of indifference to him. 
 His object was to lose sight of and be lost 
 sight of by the world ; and the jeers expended 
 upon him by its triflers, were a matter of small 
 account. Only once had he experienced a 
 momentary interest in the idle talking of 
 Driftington. After a formal dinner party at 
 Lord Clantullin's, to which the chatterbox had 
 contrived to be invited, they met at Bellamy's ; 
 when Driftington exclaimed, with his usual 
 delicacy, 
 
 " I have been dining k)-day, where your 
 name is strictly taboed. Yet one of two fair 
 sisters, who shall be nameless, managed to in- 
 quire of me, in the faintest whisper, why you 
 were never seen now in society." 
 
 " Of course it was too simple an answer 
 for you to make, that you did not know?" 
 retorted Lord Fareham. 
 
 " On the contrary. I do know, and there-
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 22? 
 
 fore answered avec connaissance de cause, that 
 like all new brooms, you were sweeping too 
 dean by half; — that you had plunged head 
 over ears into the roaring surges of public life, 
 — dividing your time between your office and 
 the House; — to the great detriment of other 
 official men, who have sense enough to know 
 that the steam which is always up, necessitates 
 waste of fuel." 
 
 Lord Fareham was touched by this inquiry. 
 From the reserve Evelyn had imposed upon 
 herself as regarded him, it could proceed only 
 from Lady Mary, — his once kind sister. A 
 few days afterwards, on his return from Ken- 
 sington Palace, where he had been writing his 
 name for a royal Duke, he observed at a dis- 
 tance, the carnage of Lord Clantullin proceed- 
 ing towards the door of the least frequented 
 part of Kensington Gardens. That it contained 
 Lady Mary, about to take the gentle exercise 
 suitable to her convalescent condition, he little 
 doubted ; and moved by the emotions naturally
 
 228 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 arising from the presence of one long dear 
 to him as a sister, he checked his horse, and 
 watched her slowly descend from the carriage 
 and, leaning heavily on the arm of a female 
 attendant, enter the gardens. 
 
 As he proceeded into the park, bitter re- 
 flections on all this rushed into his mind. 
 
 " No longer attended by her sister !" — -- mused 
 he. " Oh, no ! — not by her sister !— Evelyn 
 is weary of her task, — ^Evelyn has deserted her 
 as she deserted me .'—Resigned to the care 
 of a servant.^ — Poor, poor Mary, — -- would I 
 had found courage to speak to her ! It would 
 have pleased me beyond measure to see that 
 fair and gentle creature restored to herself. — 
 So kindly, too, as she has lately spoken of me, 
 it had been only an act of common courtesy. 
 And why not ? — I have no quarrel with Mary. 
 I have received no injury at her hands." 
 
 And on the impulse of the moment, he 
 turned his horse's head; and having reached 
 the gate adjoining Kensington Palace, gave it
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 229 
 
 to his groom, and followed the trace of one 
 who, from her enfeebled condition, was scarcely 
 likely to have proceeded further than a bench 
 under the shade of one of the nearest thickets. 
 
 The gardens were just then in their choicest 
 beauty. The verdure of May was filling the 
 air with all the freshness of the youth of the 
 year. The birds were singing among the lilac 
 bushes, as though in honour of the universal 
 holiday; while among the statelier groves, the 
 bright cones of the horse-chesnut blossoms, 
 vivified the sober green. 
 
 " How sweet, — how bright, — -how spring-like !" 
 murmured Lord Fareham, as he pursued his 
 way over the elastic turf. " How wise of the 
 invalid to come and refresh herself with this 
 purer atmosphere." 
 
 At that moment, he caught sight of her, 
 winding her way under the shade of the lofty 
 lime grove fronting the palace, still leaning on 
 the arm of her attendant* In their spotless 
 white dresses, amid the universal green, they
 
 230 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 looked almost like spiritual beings. For at 
 that hour, this secluded quarter of the gardens 
 is little frequented ; and not another human 
 being was in sight. 
 
 Deeply agitated by the prospect of the in- 
 terview, Lord Fareham stood back among the 
 trees, to collect himself — though Lady Mary 
 was still at the distance of a hundred paces; 
 when lo ! to his great surprise, he saw advancing 
 to meet her, in an opposite direction, — Sir James 
 De Lisle ! 
 
 It was scarcely to be supposed that, in a 
 spot so unfrequented, the meeting was acci- 
 dental; more especially when, after being ac- 
 costed by Sir James, hat in hand and with a 
 degree of deference not altogether accordant 
 with the familiarities of a rendezvous, the lady 
 accepted his arm in place of that of her 
 attendant, who fell discreetly into the back- 
 ground. After proceeding a short distance, 
 they sat down on the nearest bench. 
 
 To interrupt such a Ute-a-tite had of
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 231 
 
 course been indiscreet ; and though Lord 
 Fareham was near enough to perceive by a 
 glance that the form of Lady Mary was still 
 bowed by weakness, and her face pale as ala- 
 baster, he retreated unobserved by either, and 
 made his hasty way out of the gardens. 
 
 Still, the circumstance greatly surprised him. 
 De Lisle had never avowed any peculiar interest 
 in Lady Mary. His age seemed to render it 
 unlikely that a lovely girl of eighteen should 
 see in him more than the staid contemporary 
 of her father ; and though it was certainly Sir 
 James who had made him acquainted with the 
 Clantullin family, there never seemed to exist 
 between them any closer bond than is usual 
 among people of the world. 
 
 The only way in which he could account 
 for the startling famiharity grown up between 
 the two was that, as an elderly man and one 
 whose time was wholly at his own disposal, the 
 invalid fancied she might, without self-com- 
 promise, secure his arm for her walk.
 
 232 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 That evening, at the Carlton, the eternal 
 Driftington lent himself most opportunely to 
 the solution of his doubts, by suddenly exclaim- 
 ing, the moment Sir James made his appear- 
 ance, — 
 
 " By the way De Lisle — how do you get 
 on with your pastoral ?" — 
 
 "What pastoral?"— 
 
 " The Idyll you are certainly writing, or your 
 brougham would not be seen, day after day, at 
 the Bayswater gate, of Kensington Gardens, — 
 sacred to poets and nursery maids." 
 
 " My brougham and my pastoral are obliged 
 to you for your solicitude," replied De Lisle, an- 
 grily. " But you are under a mistake. No 
 carriage of mine ever waits at Poet's Corner." 
 
 " Why, my dear fellow, I saw it there this 
 very day ! I know your brown horse as well 
 as my own face. Your crest is a sheaf 
 of arrows. I tell you I saw it there at three 
 o'clock." 
 
 " If it were worth while, I could easily prove
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT* 233 
 
 an alibi," retorted De Lisle; "but you may 
 as well content yourself with my simple nay- 
 say.^' 
 
 Lord Fareham was greatly astonished. Why 
 this mystery ? — ^Why this deceit ? — ^Was this 
 man fated to be in aU instances the fountain- 
 head of double-dealing ? 
 
 Unlikely as it was that, thus discovered and 
 pointed out, he should return to his haunts. Lord 
 Fareham determined to proceed thither on the 
 morrow, and ascertain whether the appearance 
 of De Lisle's carriage at one gate, afforded the 
 signal for that of Lord Clantullin at the other. 
 
 The day following, however, he was engaged 
 on a committee at the House ; nor was it till the 
 usual Saturday gaol-delivery of member-life, that 
 he was able to reach the Kensington gate at the 
 same hour as before. 
 
 As he was dismounting from his horse, the 
 footmen waiting at the gates touched their hats 
 to him ; and one of them, to whom, during his 
 courtship days, Lord Fareham had been a liberal
 
 234 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 benefactor, stood so near and with an air of such 
 cordial and grateftd respect, that the young Lord, 
 by way of gracious recognition, inquired how 
 Lady Mary was, and whether he should find 
 her in the gardens ? 
 
 " Her Ladyship is going on charmingly, my 
 Lord !" replied the man. Then, recollecting 
 himself, he seemed to fancy he might be doing 
 good service to a pair of disunited lovers, by 
 adding, " but it is Lady Evelyn who is in the 
 gardens. Her Ladyship comes here most fine 
 days, my Lord." 
 
 " Evelyn?" It could not be Evelyn he had 
 seen ? That infirm figure — that pallid face — 
 could not possibly be those of Lady Evelyn 
 Lorn ? — He had heard her spoken of as having 
 sufi^ered materially in health from long confine- 
 ment with her invalid sister, but not to this 
 extent. For his absence from the London ball- 
 rooms and want of interest in their politics, left 
 him still ignorant that Lady Evelyn Lorn had not 
 been seen at a single fete of the season ; and, till
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 235 
 
 now, no hint had reached him of her serious 
 indisposition. 
 
 Determined instantly to verify his misgivings, 
 he rushed into the gardens ; and without reserve, 
 and wholly forgetting his desire of remaining an 
 unobserved spectator of the proceedings of Sir 
 James, made straight towards the spot where, as 
 before, sat the fair invalid in her simple white 
 dress and plain straw bonnet. — There, too, as 
 before, sat Sir James De Lisle, — engaged in inti- 
 mate conversation by her side ! 
 
 A mist seemed to cover the eyes of Lord 
 Fareham, as he approached. — For approach he 
 did. To know that Evelyn was sitting there, 
 suffering and altered, and not determine with his 
 own eyes the extent of the evil, was impossible ! 
 
 And yet, when he had ascertained the degree 
 to which she was changed, he almost repented 
 his precipitancy ! For so deep was his emotion 
 at the sight, that, instead of passing on, accord- 
 ing to his purpose, and leaving the pair unmo- 
 lested to the private interview they had sought,
 
 236 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 he advanced with both hands extended towards 
 Lady Evelyn Lorn, in wild and incoherent greet- 
 ing. 
 
 His voice was so broken that it would 
 have been difficult to interpret a syllable he 
 uttered ; — and so thoroughly was he over- 
 powered by his feelings, that he had no power 
 of ascertaining the effect produced by his 
 most unexpected apparition on those of his 
 companions. 
 
 Sir James De Lisle, as became his years and 
 experience of the world, was the first to recover 
 himself. 
 
 " You have been calling at the palace, I con- 
 clude?" — said he. "It is only assiduous courtiers 
 like yourself, or prudent invalids like Lady 
 Evelyn Lorn, who find their way to this ultima 
 Thule, out of the way of the gay world, and its 
 frequenters ; — so much out of the way, indeed, 
 that her Ladyship might run some risk from 
 footpads and highwaymen," he continued, af- 
 fecting a jocose vein, " did she not secure the
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 237 
 
 attendance of some sober old cavalier like my- 
 self, — -good only to fidghten the crows and 
 sturdy beggars." 
 
 While he was speaking, his two companions 
 were gazing upon each other in wistful silence ; 
 and when he ceased, instead of attempting a 
 reply to his flippant apostrophe. Lord Fareham 
 lifted his hat respectfully to Lady Evelyn, and 
 passed on, as if pursuing his walk. And so 
 steadily and unconsciously did he really pursue 
 it, that he had reached the wallof the ha ha 
 bounding Hyde Park in an opposite direc- 
 tion, before he sufficiently recovered himself to 
 know where he was, or whither be was 
 going. 
 
 " What can have brought her to this ?" was 
 his first ejaculation. " What can have wrought 
 so terrible a change ? — The struggle between 
 pride and affection ? She really loved me then ! 
 — I did not deceive myself! Her affection for 
 me was secondary only to the aristocratic in- 
 stincts cultivated fi-om her birth as a \irtue
 
 238 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 of station ! Alas! — dear as it is to me to know 
 that the passion I have felt and feel for Eveh'n, 
 is less poorly requited than of late I have been 
 led to suppose, rather a thousand times she were 
 heartless, as first appearances induced me to 
 suppose, than that she should have suffered 
 thus ! — ^They are a fragib race. Her mother 
 died young, and died of grief; — Mary was only 
 preserved from the grave by the most tender 
 care and watchfulness. Of Evelyn's illness, no 
 one seems to take heed. How little have I 
 heard of it! — How little do they appear to 
 watch over her ! — No one with her but De Lisle, 
 who appears to feel that, as the origin of our 
 common misery, it is his duty to minister conso- 
 lation. — And she has wanted consolation, then, 
 all this time, while I was accusing her of indif- 
 ference !" — 
 
 As his ideas gradually disentangled themselves 
 from the confusion created by contending emo- 
 tions, Lord Fareham recalled to mind, with sur- 
 prise, the duplicity of De Lisle's conduct, as
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 239 
 
 regarded his private promenades in Kensington 
 gardens. 
 
 " Why deny so strenuously that his carriage 
 was in waiting ? Perhaps, because he charitably 
 wished to spare me the pain of learning Lady 
 Evelyn's condition." 
 
 As he passed hurriedly on, it occurred to him, 
 however, as strange that Sir James De Lisle 
 should have maintained such obstinate reserve 
 towards one united with him by bonds of such 
 peculiar nature; and the aversion which, for 
 some time past, had taken possession of his 
 mind against the man who professed such 
 warmth of friendship towards him, became still 
 further embittered by the idea of his officiating 
 as the comforter and bosom friend of Lady 
 Evelyn Lorn. 
 
 "I remember that of old she never liked 
 him," mused Lord Fareham. " My father she 
 adored ; — to the excellencies of Lord Arlingham, 
 she was prompt to render justice. But Sir 
 James De Lisle she always mistrusted. I recol-
 
 240 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 lect her making me as angry as I ever found 
 heart to be with Evelyn, by reproaching me with 
 my subjection to such a man. In vain I pleaded 
 to her that he was an early friend, — the nearest 
 kinsman of my mother. He was a man, she 
 said, without candour, — without religion ; — or, 
 (to borrow the jargon of a science in which she, 
 poor girl, had faith,) — without Veneration, and 
 without Hope. And yet, now that she is in 
 trouble, she can find no surer stay to lean 
 on, than this broken reed ! Can it be ? — (yet, 
 why perplex myself with vain surmises) ? — can 
 it be that his society is dear to her from his 
 supposed connexion with myself?" 
 
 That night, in the House, though a debate 
 took place in which Lord Arlingham's son had 
 been expected to bear a prominent part. Lord 
 Fareham sat mute and pre-absorbed ; and when 
 the Earl reproached him, the following morning, 
 with having left his duties in less efficient hands, 
 it little occurred to him to attribute his son's 
 supineness to mental depression.
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 241 
 
 In the rupture of Lord Fareham's engage- 
 ments with Lady Evelyn Lorn, the whole blame 
 had been assumed by the lady ; and as, though 
 pleased with the match, Lord Arlingham had, 
 from the first, apprehended that so early a mar- 
 riage might divert the attention of his son from 
 official life, the breach was a matter easily recon- 
 ciled to his feelings. He had consequently 
 given less thought to the event than might have 
 been expected ; reconciling himself to the loss of 
 the alliance as easily as he had reconciled him- 
 self to its projection. 
 
 " You are ill, my dear boy," said he, on per- 
 ceiving that his son offered no reply to his 
 reproof of the idleness of the preceding night. 
 " You have overworked yourself, Fareham ; for 
 surely, you are not guilty of the weakness of 
 repining after a girl who has proved herself 
 unworthy the affection of a heart like your's ? 
 Lady Evelyn's caprice in your favour, — (for I 
 can call it nothing else) — was the mere dream 
 of a sickly fancy ! — Clantullin assured me that 
 VOL. I. M
 
 242 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 his daughter could not be induced to assign any 
 motive for her change of feeling towards you ; 
 and little credit is she now doing herself in the 
 eyes of the world, by according to the assiduities 
 of a cold-blooded man of the world like De 
 Lisle, what your franker nature failed to secure. 
 She wanted a slave, it seems, — and she has 
 found one !" 
 
 " Do you mean to say that an attachment is 
 supposed to exist between Sir James De Lisle 
 and Lady Evelyn Lorn?" — - demanded Lord Fare- 
 ham, gasping for breath. 
 
 " So Lord Thomas Aymer assures me. De 
 Lisle's passion, he says, is obvious enough ; — the 
 extent to which it is returned by the lady, I will 
 not pretend to decide." 
 
 The flush that overspread the pale face of 
 Lord Fareham was naturally attributed by the 
 Earl to indignation, at the supposition that he 
 could have found a rival in a man more than 
 double his age. It arose, on the contrary, fiiom 
 a hope,— a sudden hope, — that the terrible
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 243 
 
 secret revealed by De Lisle to himself and' Lady 
 Evelyn Lorn, might be a cruel fabrication for 
 the purpose of disuniting them ; — ^a vile slander 
 devised for a viler purpose. 
 
 A momentary gleam of joy dawned in his 
 soul ! — But its sunshine was soon overclouded. 
 Even if enabled to prove the well-detailed narra- 
 tion of Sir James a tissue of falsehoods, how 
 little would the discovery avail him ! — Had not 
 that monstrous calumny already served its pur- 
 pose, by demonstrating the worthlessness of the 
 heart on which were anchored his hopes of 
 earthly happiness? — If restored to himself, to 
 his father — to his place in society — what was 
 to console him for his loss of the affections 
 of Lady Evelyn Lorn ? 
 
 It was essential, at least, to bring his doubts 
 to an issue. On this new point of suspicion, he 
 was resolved that not a day should be lost in ob- 
 taining the fullest and most conclusive expla- 
 nations' 
 
 M 2
 
 244 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 CHAPTER IX, 
 
 Tend me to-night; 
 Maybe, it is the period of your duty ; 
 Haply, you shall not see me more ; or if, 
 A mangled shadow. Perchance, to-morrow 
 You'll serve another master. I look on you 
 As one who takes his leave. 
 
 SHAKSPEARE. 
 
 " I HAVE just left the Coalition in the confusion 
 of Babel !" cried Driftington, accosting Lord 
 Fareham, as, a few hours afterwards, he was 
 turning into Park Place, with the intention of 
 demanding an explanation of De Lisle. " They 
 say you sat like your grandsire cut in alabaster, 
 last night, while SitweU, and another lump of 
 clay of a county member, were firing off 
 squibs and crackers at the party. Aymer
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 245 
 
 declares that you are going fast asleep; and. 
 that he shall send you a ticket of admission 
 into the deaf and dumb institution." 
 
 " He must certainly conclude me to be* deaf, 
 or he would scarcely presume to indulge in im- 
 pertinence at my expense," observed Lord 
 Fareham, stiffly ; " and as you have taken the 
 trouble to repeat to me his observation, perhaps 
 you will also be at that of carrying him my 
 reply." 
 
 " I have something better to do, my dear 
 fellow! — " cried Driftington, alarmed at the 
 result of his mischief-making. — "I have got 
 a capital story against De Lisle, and am on 
 my way to stick it into him. That young man 
 we met with him (was it you or Aymer who was 
 with me) ? and whom we thought so like Lord 
 Arlingham, is certainly a son of his. I danced 
 last night with the little fair-haired Middleton 
 girl, who resides in his neighbourhood, and lost 
 a good match, they say, by setting her cap at 
 you, last winter (the old story of the dog
 
 246 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 snatching at the shadow in the^ water) ! for 
 Sitwell won't be coaxed back again, and is not 
 to be had at any price." 
 
 " But what has this to do with the son of 
 Sir James De Lisle ?" — demanded Lord Fare- 
 ham, impatiently. 
 
 " Only that, having cross-questioned her and 
 her quizzy old chaperon of a mother, about 
 Holme Court, I find that though the young 
 man in question was brought up in obscurity 
 by De Lisle, it is supposed he will leave him his 
 unentailed property." 
 
 Considering the recent assurance of inherit- 
 ance made to him by Sir James, this intelli- 
 gence afforded only additional proof of dupli- 
 city of the most plausible kind; and much 
 as Lord Fareham disliked the prying and per- 
 sonality of Driftington, he was not sorry for the 
 prospect of being a witness to the confusion of 
 De Lisle, when exposed by the officious banter- 
 ing of the professional gossip. But when they 
 arrived at the door of the man thus doubly
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 247 
 
 menaced, it appeared that Sir James had sud- 
 denly left town. 
 
 " Out of town ?" — said Lord Fareham, in an 
 incredulous tone. 
 
 " Why I saw him at the Carlton only last 
 night, and he said nothing of his departure !" 
 added Driftington. " On the contrary, I was 
 to meet him to-morrow, at a dinner at Lord 
 Clantullin's !" 
 
 "Sir James left town this morning, at an 
 early hour," persisted the butler, evidently in 
 earnest. 
 
 " And alone ?" demanded Driftington, in a 
 tone which the portly gentleman would probably 
 have resented, but that the interrogator was 
 arm in arm with one to whom Holme Court 
 and Park Place were instructed to do homage. 
 
 "Accompanied only by his own man," was 
 the reply. 
 
 "How long will he stay, d'ye think?" in- 
 quired Driftington, flippantly. 
 
 " I really am not at all aware, Sir," replied the
 
 248 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 man. "Sir James said nothing to me upon 
 the subject — except, that I should be apprized, 
 in due time, of his return." 
 
 As there was nothing further to be asked, 
 with propriety. Lord Fareham, sorely vexed, 
 turned from the door. Still, he entertained no 
 great anxiety. At that season of the year, it 
 was unlikely that a man, like De Lisle, a member 
 of the House, a hon vivant, a man of the 
 world, should absent himself, for any length of 
 time, from town. He resolved to call again in 
 a day or two in Park Place, to satisfy himself 
 further ; and, but that he scorned to interrogate 
 a gossip like Driftington, would fain have 
 inquired the following day, what excuse De 
 Lisle had offered for himself to the dinner party 
 at Lord ClantuHin's, at which, having been one, 
 he had doubtless ascertained the cause of Sir 
 James's absence. 
 
 That night, however, the adjourned debate 
 of the night preceding was before the House ; 
 and Fareham had been too strongly appealed to
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 249 
 
 by the Earl, to admit of perseverance in supine- 
 ness. The question was one to which, a short 
 time before, he had given his arduous attention. 
 The only difficulty was, to fling aside his dis- 
 tracting load of care and the nervous con- 
 sciousness that thrills in every nerve and 
 relaxes every vital power of those who labour 
 under mental depression, so as to command the 
 full measure of his faculties for the service 
 of the good cause. 
 
 The eff'ort necessitated by this painful con- 
 sciousness, wrought wonders; for never before 
 had he spoken with such conciseness and force. 
 The eyes of the loathing Sitwell glared at 
 him from the opposition benches, like those of 
 a jaguar at bay. 
 
 " By Jove, Fm sorry De Lisle w^as not here 
 to-night !" cried Lord Thomas Aymer, pushing 
 towards him at the close of a triumphant 
 division. " YouVe surpassed yourself, Fareham, 
 by a thousand cubits — as half the leading 
 articles of to-morrow will inform you. But De 
 
 M 3
 
 250 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 Lisle is the only man to convey news of your 
 triumphs to Arlingham House. — His plausible 
 demure face, carries credit with it. — Were 
 / to tell your father you had been out Demos- 
 thenizing Demosthenes, Lord Arlingham would 
 make me a civil bow, and conclude I was hoax- 
 ing him. However, round numbers speak for 
 themselves ! — ^A larger majority, by nine, than we 
 counted upon !" 
 
 " And yet De Lisle away ! — " carelessly ob- 
 served Lord Fareham, for once regarding his 
 enemy only as a vote. 
 
 "Ay, ay; — but he's paired off for the re- 
 mainder of the session ! — " replied Lord Thomas, 
 moving away. 
 
 " Paired off? — " reiterated his companion. 
 
 "With Heseltine. Heseltine's gone to the 
 Highlands, for salmon fishing." 
 
 " De Lisle paired off for the remainder of 
 the -session ?" — again repeated Lord Fareham, 
 caring little for the pursuits of Mr. Heseltine. 
 
 "Ay, and without consulting any of us ; which
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 251 
 
 he might just as well have done, — my father 
 having promised to — " 
 
 " I beg your pardon for interrupting you," 
 resumed his companion. " But do you really 
 mean to say that Sir James De Lisle has left 
 town for the season ?" — 
 
 "I should have imagined that you, who see him 
 daily, knew it as weU as I do," observed Lord 
 Thomas, a little affronted. "Heseltine men- 
 tioned it to me last night, at White's. It was 
 great joy to him ! He had been endeavouring, 
 in vain, to find a pair ; and got De Lisle's note 
 on the subject, while we were dining together. 
 De Lisle is a close fellow enough, I admit. But 
 I fancied that at least you and Lord Arlingham 
 were in his secrets." 
 
 Next day. Lord Fareham addressed a letter to 
 Sir James, at Holme Court, — a strenuous letter, 
 insisting upon explanations and a release from 
 existing engagements; — and utterly sleepless was 
 the night preceding the morning, by whose post 
 the answer was to arrive*
 
 252 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 Not a syllable, however, was vouchsafed him. 
 No postman's knock disturbed that morning 
 the quietude of Arlingham House. 
 
 " He is probably on his way back," mused 
 Lord Fareham. " Unwilling to commit himself 
 by letter, he will come to town, if only to give 
 me the explanations I have demanded." 
 
 All the morning, accordingly — (one of those 
 fine summer mornings which fill even London 
 with sunshine, and render the shade of the 
 broad-leaved planes of Berkeley Square a pleasant 
 prospect) — did he loiter at home, afraid of miss- 
 ing the expected visitor on whose words de- 
 pended the welfare of his future life. 
 
 Towards dinner-time, when the atmosphere 
 was astir with the roll of equipages and eques- 
 trians proceeding to the park, he issued forth, 
 on pretence to himself of going down to the 
 House ; but fiiUy determined to turn his horse 
 aside into Park Place, and learn something of 
 the movements of Sir James. 
 
 " Have you any news from Holme Court ?"
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 253 
 
 he inquired of the servant, perceiving, by the 
 closely shuttered aspect of the house, that its 
 master was still absent. 
 
 " None, my Lord." 
 
 " You are not expecting Sir James then, 
 for a day or two ?" 
 
 " For a day or two, my Lord ?" reiterated 
 the astonished butler. 
 
 " I wrote to Sir James, the day before yester- 
 day, and having received no answer as I ex- 
 pected, thought he might be coming back 
 earlier than he intended." 
 
 " You have, perhaps. Sir James's direction 
 then, my Lord?" inquired the man, " which 
 Mr. Harbottle Driftington was inquiring for 
 very anxiously, only half an hour ago ?" 
 
 " Is he not at Holme Court? — I wrote to 
 Holme Court! — " exclaimed Lord Fareham. — " I 
 concluded he was at Holme Court." 
 
 " Your Lordship's letter will doubtless be 
 forwarded to the continent by the steward, as 
 soon as he receives instructions from Sir James,
 
 254 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 where the letters are to be addressed," said the 
 man, evidently surprised; and still more so, 
 when Lord Fareham, almost dropping his 
 horse's bridle under the influence of the shock, 
 exclaimed, 
 
 " To the continent ? — ^You don't mean to 
 say, that Sir James De Lisle is gone abroad ?" 
 
 " It occurred to me the other day, my Lord, 
 that you did not wish to speak on the subject 
 before Mr. Driftington, who is nowise con- 
 nected with the family," observed the butler, 
 a grave personage, who had been in Sir James 
 De Lisle's establishment, from Lord Fareham's 
 boyhood; " and I therefore entered into no 
 particulars. Indeed, I knew and know none, 
 further than that Sir James set off for Dover 
 on the morning you called here ; and that from 
 what previously occurred, I believe the journey 
 to have been a very sudden one." 
 
 " And you neither know his address, nor can 
 conjecture the length of his stay ?" — demanded 
 Lord Fareham, in utter consternation.
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 255 
 
 " Not in the slightest degree, my Lord. We 
 have orders to send any letters that may arrive, 
 to Sir James's solicitor. — But it is only for 
 safe custody. For I took the first packet 
 myself, hoping to obtain some clue to the 
 length of my master's absence ; and Mr. Pon- 
 cit informed me had heard nothing from Sir 
 James, and had no orders to forward anything. 
 Only, the night previous to his departure from 
 town, a small deed chest, containing papers of 
 consequence, was despatched by Sir James's 
 own man Evans, to his office ; as ususally tha 
 case when he contemplates a long absence from 
 home." 
 
 " Most extraordinary !" burst from the lips 
 of Lord Fareham. 
 
 " Most extraordinary, indeed, my Lord ! For 
 only the day before he started, my master was 
 as particular in his orders to the head-groom 
 about shoeing his brown hack, — (his park horse, 
 my Lord), as if he entertained no thoughts of 
 leaving town till the end of the season. The
 
 256 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 last thing he did was to write note upon note 
 of excuses, to I know not how many dinner 
 parties he had accepted; besides giving me a 
 list of eight and twenty persons to be put off 
 for dinners next week, for which he had sent 
 out cards." 
 
 " And can you imagine no reason for his 
 sudden change of plan ?" — 
 
 " None in the world, my Lord. It could 
 not be news from abroad that called him away ; 
 for that day, he had no foreign letters." 
 
 " Has Sir James usually much foreign cor- 
 respondence ?" 
 
 " Next to none, my Lord. Perhaps not 
 half a dozen letters in the year, since your 
 Lordship returned from the continent." 
 
 " Nothing occurred then, to justify the 
 suddenness of the journey ? — " demanded 
 Lord Fareham. 
 
 " I know I may put confidence in your Lord- 
 ship, to whom my master desires every servant 
 in his establishment, to show deference as to
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 257 
 
 a son of his own, — " replied the man ; **' and, 
 therefore, I may mention, what I should have 
 been loth to say before Mr. Harbottle Drifting- 
 ton who is never tired of asking questions, 
 about what can be no concern nor interest of 
 his. But Sir James kept dinner waiting that 
 last day, my Lord, more than an hour ; — and 
 I need not remind your Lordship of his ex- 
 treme punctuality as to hours, — punctual him- 
 self, and expecting punctuality in every body 
 about him." 
 
 " Yes, yes — and he was late you say ?" 
 " The brougham was only coming up the 
 street as the clocks went nine ! I was afraid 
 of some accident ; but all seemed right. The 
 coachman having driven from the door, I in- 
 quired of Sir James, if dinner should be served ; 
 when he answered that ' he had dined,' in a 
 voice so hoarse and unlike his own, that I saw 
 directly something was amiss. And afterwards, 
 when I asked John coachman, where Sir James 
 could have dined to come home so out of sorts.
 
 258 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 he answered that it must have been with the 
 sparrows, in Kensington Gardens, for that he 
 had been kept waiting at the gate till long 
 after they were shut, — being only opened to 
 my master, at last, for a gratuity given to the 
 keeper," 
 
 " In short, he had not dined ?" — cried Lord 
 Fareham, impatiently. 
 
 " Certainly noty my Lord ; — yet he only 
 ordered coffee. Then, Evans was sent for in 
 a hurry, and ordered to pack for a journey; 
 but not a word even to hirriy of going abroad. 
 All he knew was that they were to start very 
 early in the morning ; — nor was it till the 
 carriage returned next day from taking them 
 to the station, I found Dover was the mark. 
 Your Lordship will excuse my making so free, 
 as to telt you all this. But I own, my Lord, 
 I am a little uneasy on my master's account. 
 For what between the hurry of departure, and 
 the trouble of writing so many letters before 
 going. Sir James looked as white as a ghost
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 259 
 
 when he left the house; and on entering his 
 room afterwards, I found he had actually never 
 been in bed 1" 
 
 Connecting all this intelligence with his own 
 intense interest in the movements of De Lisle, 
 Lord Fareham uttered a gasping sigh. He 
 felt thoroughly defeated. He suspected him- 
 self to be the origin of this abrupt depar- 
 ture, — this virtual flight. The faithful servant 
 was anxious for his master: — Lord Fareham 
 for himself. 
 
 " I will call again, should I obtain any in- 
 telligence of Sir James," said he, trying to 
 command himself. " I will call again, at all 
 events, to inquire whether you have heard from 
 him or Evans," added he. " Jt is very likely 
 that the newspapers may afl'ord us the informa- 
 tion of his route, which, for reasons of his own, 
 your master has seen fit to withhold." 
 
 But the newspapers told nothing more than 
 that. Sir James De Lisle had taken his depar- 
 ture from Worthington's Ship Inn, Dover, for
 
 260 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 the continent ; and when Lord Fareham 
 managed to inquire through the Foreign Office 
 whether he had appeared in Paris, and for what 
 country his passport was visCy nothing could 
 be ascertained of his route. 
 
 " I must take patience ! As strangely as he 
 has fled, will he return again l" was Lord Fare- 
 ham's argument with himself. 
 
 But when a man thus avows that, " he must 
 ' take patience," rarely does he abide by the 
 prescription; and the suspense of his situation 
 became daily and hourly more intolerable. 
 
 " If Evelyn had only treated me as a friend !" 
 was his secret reflection. " If she had frankly 
 avowed her disinclinattolS to'Wed with one ignobly 
 born and forced by no fault of his own into so 
 false a position, I might have taken counsel 
 with her in this strait. — Through life, I have 
 had confidence only in my — in Lord Arlingham, 
 and Evelyn ! — With Lord Arlingham, fatal ne- 
 cessity compels me to reserve. And she has 
 thrown me off! — She disdains me too com-
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 261 
 
 pletely to admit of my asking of her, either 
 advice or consolation !" 
 
 Then came the recollection of their agitated 
 meeting ; for deeply as his feelings were moved 
 during that brief encounter, Lady Evelyn had 
 not been less distressed. — No, she was not 
 indifferent ! — she could not be indifferent ! 
 Suffering she was, — suffering, infirm, mise- 
 rable ; — but he could not believe her to be in- 
 different ! — 
 
 If, on the other hand, the slightest foundatign, 
 existed for the rumour reported to him by Lord 
 Arlingham, that, with inexplicable caprice. Lady 
 Evelyn had transferred Jierc affections to Sir 
 James De Lisle, there was probably a mutual 
 understanding between them; and if De Lisle 
 was absenting himself for a time only to lessen 
 the odium of treachery towards himself. Lord 
 Clantiillin's family were doubtless apprised of 
 his movements, and able to furnish his address. 
 Situated as Lord Fareham was towards them, 
 how was this to be obtained, or even sought ?
 
 262 • THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 — Since the rupture, he had held no communi- 
 cation with any member of the family, save 
 in that hurried interview with Lady Evelyn ; 
 and Driftington — the only channel that pre- 
 sented itself — was too much of a gossip to be 
 trusted with even the secret of his ignorance. 
 
 " You are sometimes at Lord Clantullin's, I 
 fancy ?" — said he to Lord Thomas Aymer, the 
 next time they met. 
 
 " Why, who the deuce told you so ? — That 
 mischievous fellow, Driftington, I make no 
 doubt?" 
 
 " Is there any particular treason in the case, 
 that you should disclaim so violently ?" inquired 
 Lord Fareham, much surprised. 
 
 " None, unless through Driftington's misre- 
 presentations." 
 
 "My inquiry bears no reference to any saying 
 of his. All I wish to ask is whether you ever 
 hear the name of De Lisle mentioned among 
 themf— 
 
 " Never, that I recollect. Yes 1 — on my re-
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 263 
 
 ferring, the other day, to his sudden departure 
 from England, they agreed with me that his 
 absence was a great relief." 
 
 " Lady Evelyn Lorn declared his absence to 
 be a relief?" — demanded Lord Fareham, amazed 
 at such duplicity. 
 
 " We said it, — that is, Mary and I said it ; — 
 and Lady Evelyn gave aJl the consent usually 
 given by silence." 
 
 Lord Fareham shrugged his shoulders. 
 
 " Would it be disagreeable to you to inquire 
 whether Sir James's address is known to them ?*' 
 he next inquired. " I have letters of importance 
 which I am desirous of forwarding." 
 
 " Well, of all the odd things in this world ! — 
 that you should be ignorant of the direction of 
 Sir James De Lisle, and address yourself to me 
 to ask it for you of the Clantullin family !" cried 
 Lord Thomas. " Ton honour, my dear Fare- 
 ham, you are beginning to talk and look like a 
 heros de melodrame. You are no longer 
 the man you were last year. I positively can't
 
 264 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 make you out ! — If I were as inquisitive as 
 Driftington, T should pump the mystery out of 
 you by ten millions of questions. First, you 
 quarrel with your plighted love, — then, with 
 your bosom friend; — and now, you are asking 
 me, to whom you are usually as savage as a bear, 
 for news of both of them !" — 
 
 Lord Fareham coloured deeply. There was 
 only too much truth on the surface of the 
 charge. 
 
 " I asked you for Sir James De Lisle's ad- 
 dress, and not for a lesson !" said he, haughtily. 
 " I am sorry to have troubled you unnecessarily." 
 
 Perceiving that he was about to move away 
 in displeasure. Lord Thomas, who not only liked 
 him for his own sake but was aware of the high 
 value placed upon his services to the party 
 by the Duke his father, seized his arm, and 
 walked on with him. 
 
 " My dear feUow, if you love me, don't look 
 so confoundedly like Amadis de Gaul !" cried he. 
 " If I have affronted you, I crave your pardon,
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 265 
 
 hat in hand. The fact is, that between you 
 and Lady Evelyn, my place is no sinecure! — 
 Cross-questioned by one, and ^cross-questioned 
 by the other, I live between two fires l" 
 
 "I do not understand you," replied Lord 
 Fareham, still a little sullen. 
 
 " I mean that I never enter Clantullin's 
 house — (which, thanks to the fascination of 
 Mary's gentle eyes, seldom occurs less than 
 once in the twenty-four hours) — without being 
 beset by her sister with interrogations concerning 
 what is going on in the House, and the numbers 
 of all possible divisions, — past, present, and to 
 come, — all which is a fearful bore to me, who 
 care for politics only as a matter of loaves and 
 fishes. — (Don't look so shocked ! — truth, even 
 though murder, will out!) — Well! — as I was 
 telling you, having chanced one day to make 
 answer to her Ladyship's inquiries in words to 
 this vile effect (which caused her hair to stand 
 on end with horror much as your own, but 
 for the sedative of Mirific Balsam, would do at 
 
 VOL. I. N
 
 266 THE BIRTHIIIGHT. 
 
 this moment!) — ^Mary pleaded with me in 
 favour of her sister's importunate curiosity, by 
 whispering that if Evelyn did somewhat re- 
 semble poor Driftington in the number and 
 frivolousness of her queries, it was all for the 
 sake of a certain friend of mine, — a young 
 gentleman whom the morning papers call 
 the shining light of the country, and so 
 forth." 
 
 Lord Thomas had now talked himself out of 
 breath ; and scarcely less breathless from emo- 
 tion was his startled companion. Lady Evelyn, 
 then ivas interested in his success; — Lady 
 Evelyn did follow the progress of his public 
 career ! 
 
 " I promise you, my dear fellow," resumed 
 Lord Thomas Aymer, perceiving that his com- 
 panion made no attempt at reply, " that if it 
 should please my father and yours, — (I beg 
 pardon, — your father and mine,) — to convert 
 that worthy piece of domestic furniture. Lord 
 Clantullin, into a servant of the public, as
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 267 
 
 President of the Council, or some other layman 
 of the fine art of ^ Statesmanship, — Lady Evelyn 
 is perfectly qualified to officiate as his secretary. 
 A few weeks ago, notwithstanding the delicacy 
 of her health, Lady Mary assures me that she 
 used to be roused at eight every morning, to 
 enjoy the daily papers wet from the press, — 
 dwelling on every syllable of the debates with a 
 steadiness worthy the most pigtailed member 
 of Boodle's ! — Now that she is stronger; — nay, by 
 comparison, well again, — she is often in the 
 ventilator, at the risk of a severe cold or, like a 
 sick chicken, dying of the gapes !" 
 
 Lord Thomas paused for a laugh ; but not 
 even a smile rewarded his efforts. Lord 
 Fareham was absorbed heart and soul in all 
 he was hearing. Even the information he had 
 sought concerning Sir James De Lisle became 
 comparatively unimportant ! — The joy of learning 
 that the woman still so dear to him, — ^the woman 
 he had hoped to make his own in this world and 
 the next, — was thus deeply interested in his 
 
 N 2
 
 268 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 welfare, caused his heart to swell within him, 
 till utterance became impossible. 
 
 Without replying a syllable to the flippant 
 sally of his companion, he burst from him ; 
 leaving it for Lord Thomas to relate as an 
 excellent jest, on the morrow, to Lady Mary 
 Lorn, that he had driven poor Fareham as tho- 
 roughly out of his wits as Hamlet, on the public 
 'pave of Whitehall, by simply recounting to him 
 the delight taken by her sister in reading and 
 listening to his speeches. 
 
 That day. Lord Fareham forgot to call in Park 
 Place for further news of De Lisle. His zeal to 
 obtain release from his promise, — his zeal to 
 extricate himself from the maze of deceit in 
 which he had been wandering, seemed suddenly 
 and unaccountably abated. The explanation that 
 was to precipitate him from the vantage ground 
 he had obtained in public opinion and the eyes 
 of Lady Evelyn Lorn, might surely, he thought, 
 be postponed a short time longer, without offence 
 to his own conscience or injury to any I
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 269 
 
 Soon enough, at the close of the arduous 
 session so vital to the interests of the Arling- 
 ham administration, to distract the mind of the 
 minister with the sorrows of the man !
 
 270 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 If thou remember'st not the slightest folly. 
 
 That ever love did make thee run into. 
 
 Thou hast not loved ! 
 
 Or, if thou hast not sat as I do nov^^. 
 
 Wearying thy hearer in thy mistress' praise, 
 
 Thou hast not loved ! 
 
 Or, if thou hast not broke from company. 
 
 Abruptly, as my passion now makes me, 
 
 Thou hast not loved ! 
 
 SHAKSPEARE. 
 
 *' Why, Fareham, what have you been doing 
 to yourself ?'' cried Mr. Harbottle Driftington, 
 on meeting hirn in the vestibule of a ministerial 
 soiree the following Wednesday — the latter 
 arriving, the former departing. " Have you 
 been down to Brighton, or up in a balloon, or 
 what, — to bring yourself into condition?" 
 
 " I thank you !" was the cold reply. " The
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 271 
 
 house has not sat quite so late during the past 
 week." 
 
 " But your hose are no longer ungartered, 
 nor your beard unshorn ! — Fareham's himself 
 again ! When you first flung yourself off the 
 Leucadian promontory into the sea of politics, 
 you rose to the surface, looking like a drowned 
 man — nay, almost like a drowned rat ! Accept 
 my congratulations on your new coat. I dare 
 say you won't speak less to the purpose to- 
 morrow night, for looking less like a heathen. 
 Going away so early ? — Not twelve o'clock, by 
 Jupiter !" 
 
 " I have made my bow to Lady Finland, 
 and have no further interest here." 
 
 " Who has ? Cursed stupid things, these 
 drums ! But one must show one's face at 
 them, now and then ; with the certainty of 
 hearing and seeing nothing but what one saw 
 last night, and shall be forced to look at 
 again to-morrow, namely. Lady Fermanagh's 
 diamond fringe, and the flirtation between Lady
 
 272 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 Mary Lorn and Aymer, under cover of the 
 widest dowager or folding-door they can find 
 to eclipse them." 
 
 " Lady Mary ? — Is Aymer, then, paying at- 
 tention to Lady Mary Lorn ?" — 
 
 ''Is he? — My dear Fareham, you will be 
 asking me next, whether the Dutch have taken 
 Holland! — Why, their billing and cooing has 
 been the diversion of every party for the last 
 month, — ever since the pretty little invalid 
 came out again." 
 
 " You are aware how seldom I go to parties.' 
 But what object have they in concealing it?" 
 
 " Aymer has nothing, you know ; that is, no- 
 thing to settle ; and it is not likely Clantullin 
 would jump at him for a son-in-law, as he did 
 at you. Lord ClantuUin is a worthy old gentle- 
 man, in his way ; but as fond of the coin of the 
 realm, as Harpagon. But, by Jove ! here he 
 comes ; and for a wonder, with both his daugh- 
 ters I" cried Driftington. " The first time I 
 have seen Lady Evelyn out this year ! And how
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 273 
 
 pretty, though pale, she is looking ! I don't 
 wonder De Lisle took her refusal so much to 
 heart. Hillo, Fareham ! where on earth are 
 you running to ?" — 
 
 Out of the cloak-room, and into his cab, on 
 the unlucky impulse of the moment! — For 
 scarcely had he turned the corner of the street, 
 when, but for the dread of Driftington's chat- 
 tering, he would fain have made his way back 
 to Lady Finland's party, in order to enjoy, at a 
 distance, the sight of that lovely and beloved 
 face, a momentary glimpse of which had driven 
 him at once with a throbbing heart from the 
 room. 
 
 But it was too late. His exit had been 
 noticed, — if not by the Clantullin party, by 
 others who would certainly comment with sur- 
 prise upon his speedy return ; and while exe- 
 crating his own precipitancy, and threatening to 
 be more his master on some future occasion, he 
 was tormented by dread lest this first re-appear- 
 ance in public of the elder and fairer of those 
 
 N 3
 
 274 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 two beaiatiful and delicate sisters, might prove 
 the last. 
 
 Still, the hasty glance he had ventured to- 
 wards Lady Evelyn's countenance, had shown 
 her to him in a very different light from the 
 faded invalid of Kensington Gardens. The 
 few last weeks had wrought as manifest a change 
 in her health, as in his own spirits. 
 
 To refrain from surmises as to the origin of 
 this change, was naturally impossible. Did it 
 arise from the same source as the alteration in 
 himself, so flippantly commented upon by 
 Driftington? — Was she beginning to discern 
 intrinsic value in the man she had counte- 
 nanced? — Had his recent triumphs convinced 
 her of the possibility that he might create a 
 name and position for himself, more illustrious 
 than those he might be forced to resign ? — 
 
 For it was the pride engendered by such a 
 conviction, which had inspired him with the 
 power to fling aside the sackcloth and ashes of 
 his humiliation. It was the self-reliance pro-
 
 THE fclTHRIGHT. 275 
 
 duced by the esteem he had conquered, which 
 had sufficed to raise him above those mere dis- 
 tinctions of rank and fortune, on which, as 
 essential to his marriage with Evelyn, he had 
 been a moment tempted to^et undue value. 
 As day by day he found himself progressing 
 in the estimation of his party and the con- 
 fidence of the country, he grew assured of ob- 
 taining from Lord Arlingham, as a friend, the 
 affection about to be withdrawn from him as a 
 son ; till, for once, the usually pernicious influ- 
 ence of self-esteem had the effect of inspiring' 
 happiness, steadiness, and worth. As his sense 
 of degradation was dissipated, he began to hope, 
 and became capable of greater efforts ; and for 
 a time, the absent enemy — the evil eye — the 
 terrible Sir James De Lisle, — ^was forgotten ! 
 
 As the session advanced, and the position of 
 his party became more critical, greater responsi- 
 bilities were devolving upon the shoulders on 
 which the mantle of the prophet seemed sud- 
 denly to have fallen ; and the more arduous his
 
 276 THE BIrAA 
 
 GHT. 
 
 duties, the warmer the encouragement bestowed 
 by him, whose affection as a father was as 
 deeply interested in these triumphs, as his 
 destinies as a minister. Conscious of the trust 
 reposed in him ]^ the country, and looking 
 upon his son as the best expositor of his views, 
 Lord Arlingham watched every syllable that 
 proceeded from the lips of the young orator, 
 and every turn and phase of his mind, with a 
 twofold intensity that served only to incite 
 Lord Fareham to more fruitful exertions. 
 
 Unwilling to disturb the tranquillity of his 
 son's mind by personal allusions which he saw 
 possessed the power of shaking its very basis, 
 the Earl pointedly abstained from all notice of 
 the mysterious absence of Sir James De Lisle. 
 The uncontrollable emotions displayed by Lord 
 Fareham whenever that name was mentioned, 
 convinced his father that general report spoke 
 truth in attributing the absence of their kins- 
 man to disappointment in his pretensions to the 
 hand of Lady Evelyn Lorn ; nor was he sur-
 
 THE 
 
 AwTHRIGHT. 277 
 
 prised at the disgust testified by Fareham to- 
 wards one who, at the age of De Lisle — an age, 
 when the passibns are supposed to slumber, — 
 could deliberately avail himself of the confidence 
 reposed in him by the Clant\:0in family, to en- 
 deavour to supplant his young friend in the 
 affections in which his whole happiness was 
 embarked. 
 
 On the other hand, the Earl, convinced that 
 the levity of conduct exhibited towards his son 
 
 by Lady Evelyn in the rupture of their engage- 
 
 « 
 ment, originated in misrepresentation on the 
 
 part of De Lisle, felt more than ever disposed 
 against him. His original mistrust of the wily 
 kinsman of his wife, seemed justified by the 
 event ; nor was his antipathy towards the ab- 
 sentee diminished by the contempt certain to 
 arise in the mind of a grave man of a certain 
 age, towards a cotemporary whom he sees a 
 prey to the turbulent passions of youth, or a 
 victim to its follies. 
 
 The more he disliked and despised him,
 
 278 THE BIRlfeRIGHT. 
 
 however, the less was he inclined to mention 
 his name to his son ; how little surmising the 
 still deeper crimes and injuries 4)y which that 
 name was rendered hateful to the ears of the 
 amiable young mgi, whose career had been so 
 cruelly and gratuitously embittered by the reve- 
 lations of De Lisle. 
 
 Lord Fareham more than shared the repug- 
 nance of the Earl to all mention of him whose 
 sudden departure he was beginning to regard as 
 providential. 
 
 " So long as the hateful influence of his pre- 
 sence was upon me," mused he, " I should 
 never have obtained sufficient self-command for 
 the duties imposed upon me. — Now he is away, 
 the past appears like the phantasm of a 
 fearful dream. — I can again deceive myself — I 
 can again look upon yonder dear portrait, with 
 the love and veneration of a son. — I can again 
 recommend the welfare of my best friend to the 
 protection of heaven, by the sacred name of 
 father. De Lisle was born to be my curse — to
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 degrade, to deteriorate my very nature ! But, 
 ' being gone, I am a man again !' " 
 
 Involved in the increasing excitement and 
 complex duties of public life, he had fortunately 
 little leisure to dwell upon th^ question. For of 
 the twofold life of an official man during the ses- 
 sion, the portion that involves the domestic 
 affections, is rarely the predominant; and, if 
 the joys of his existence be occasionally dimmed 
 by the interference of public duty, many a care 
 is also deadened by the stir and responsibility 
 of a position, on which the eye of the million, 
 and the retrospective telescope of posterity, affix 
 their scrutinizing glance. 
 
 One morning, as Lord Fareham was enjoy- 
 ing the sort of feverish doze that succeeds to 
 great mental excitement, — bewildered in his 
 dreams by remembered echoes of the cheers 
 of the House, — indistinct visions of sneers from 
 the opposition benches, — and all the clamour 
 of the upf'oarious bear-garden which men 
 call parliament, — he was disturbed by the still
 
 280 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 more perplexing sound of some person or 
 persons, groping round his darkened cham- 
 ber. 
 
 " It is I, — only I, — only Aymer !" cried the 
 voice of Lord Thomas, in answer to a loud 
 appeal of interrogation, which seemed to threaten 
 pistols, or summary ejection. " Do let me 
 undraw the curtains ! — I did not believe your 
 fellow, when he assured me you were still asleep. 
 Your old housekeeper. Goody Smith, whom I 
 met toddling on the stairs, protested you were 
 not home from the House till daylight, — so 
 perhaps I ought to have believed him. If you 
 want to sleep on, of course I can leave you, 
 and return at a later hour — " 
 
 " Thank you ; had I wanted to sleep on," 
 replied Lord Fareham, rubbing his eyes, " you 
 have thoroughly dispelled both the power and 
 inclination. Is anything the matter, that you 
 are astir thus early ?" 
 
 " Early ? — Why 'tis twelve o'clock, or eleven 
 certainly, — or not much after ten. No, nothing
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 281 
 
 is the matter. Only I am most confoundedly 
 out of sorts." 
 
 Lord Fareham, smiling good humouredly, 
 forbore to express an opinion that this was a 
 slight motive for rushing into people's bed-rooms 
 in the dark, and startling them from their 
 slumbers. 
 
 " That wretched majority of last night, has 
 driven me out of my senses !" resumed his 
 guest. 
 
 *' Nevertheless it exceeded the expectations 
 of the Duke of Hythe and my father," observed 
 Lord Fareham, now thoroughly awake. 
 
 " Ay, — ^but not mine and Lord ClantuUin's, 
 — ^which is a plaguy deal more to the purpose 1" 
 cried Lord Thomas, pacing up and down the 
 room, as though it were a quarter-deck. " In 
 ^ such matters, the Earl, as I need not tell you, 
 is blown about by every wind of doctrine. 
 A horrible country neighbour of De Lisle's 
 dined with him yesterday, — a fellow named 
 Sitwell, the member for — no matter [what stupid
 
 282 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 borough in his humdrum county, — ^who assured 
 him that unless we produced a triumphant 
 majority last night, and carried every thing 
 before 'us on Finland's motion on Monday, 
 there was an end of us ; — first, a dissolution, — 
 then, a change of ministry !" 
 
 " But what signify the absurd notions of 
 an obscure individual, like Mr. Sitwell?" in- 
 quired Fareham, with unaffected indifference. 
 " We know that there will be no dissolution, — 
 and that government was never stronger in the 
 face of the country." 
 
 " Ay — but if Clantullin is persuaded other- 
 wise ?" 
 
 " Considering the small share he takes in 
 politics — " 
 
 " What have politics to do with it ?" — cried 
 Lord Thomas, throwing himself fractiously into 
 a chair. " The old man has all but consented 
 to my marriage with Mary, on the strength of 
 my father's power of pushing me in my pro- 
 fession, in addition to my beggarly allowance.
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 283 
 
 And with the prospect of a change of ministry, 
 Lord Clantullin is as likely as any one I know 
 to order post-horses to his hateful family coach, 
 and carry off the girls to Scotland, to be out of 
 harm's way." 
 
 Lord Fareham now became thoroughly alive 
 to the anxieties of his friend. 
 
 " And you are really engaged, then, to Lady 
 Mary Lorn ?" he inquired, with sincere in- 
 terest. 
 
 " I hope, my dear fellow, you are not going 
 to refuse your consent?" cried Lord Thomas, 
 laughing heartily at his air of amazement. 
 " And by the way, it might have been so. 
 For, (will you believe it ?) when poor dear little 
 Mary was so iU last winter, and never told her 
 love, — (which was the real worm in the bud,) 
 because my foolish, flirting manners left her 
 in doubt as to the sincerity of my attachment, 
 Lady Evelyn so thoroughly mistook the mean- 
 ing of a few incoherent words that escaped her 
 sister when light-headed from fever, as to fancy
 
 284 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 it was you who had possession of her little 
 fluttering heart ! — ^You, Fareham ! — Did you 
 ever know any thing more ridiculous? — So like 
 the infatuation of a woman, — to suppose that 
 the man she loves, is the only one capable of 
 inspiring a sincere passion !" — 
 
 In another moment, Lord Fareham was out 
 of bed, ringing for his shaving water, and 
 affording unmistakeable hints to his visitor, that 
 he would rather dress than listen to further 
 explanations ; more especially when Lord Thomas 
 saw fit to add to his previous communication, 
 that most probably Lady Evelyn had indulged 
 in this strange mistake because " her wish was 
 father to the thought 1" — 
 
 " She had, perhaps, discovered the incompati- 
 bility of temper between you, which she assigned 
 as her reason for breaking her engagement ; and 
 thought that all might be smoothed over by 
 promoting a match between you and her sister," 
 was his commentary on the fact. 
 
 So precisely the reverse, however, were Lord
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 285 
 
 Fareham's convictions on the subject, and so 
 deeply was he moved by the belief that Evelyn 
 had sacrificed his hand, in the mistaken idea of 
 restoring health and happiness to her only 
 sister, that, had Aymer fulfilled his wishes at 
 that moment, by taking himself off, the opera- 
 tion of shaving with such tearful eyes and trem- 
 bling hands, might have been attended with 
 some danger of extinction to " the shining 
 light of the century." 
 
 " And what, then, is your object ?" cried he, , 
 coming almost angrily to the point with the 
 untimely visitor, who seemed to have conceived 
 a sudden attachment for his easy chair ; — " and 
 how, pray, can I assist you ?" — 
 
 " By lending what the newspapers call your 
 powerful aid to Monday's debate. — For the love 
 of mercy, my dear fellow, support us with all 
 your might and main, or — " 
 
 " For the love of Lord Arlingham, and my 
 country, I trust I am not likely to be remiss," 
 observed Lord Fareham, proudly.
 
 286 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 " I fear you have dropped all communication 
 with old Clantullin ; — so that' I have no chance 
 of securing an antidote to Sitwell's " leperous 
 distilments," in your more solid arguments with 
 the old gentleman ;" — inquired the anxious suitor 
 of Lady Mary Lorn. 
 
 " It was of course, impossible for me under 
 the circumstances attending our rupture, to 
 renew my visits to the house," replied his friend, 
 examining the edge of his razor, as if impatient 
 to begin his toilet. " The usual courtesies of 
 life are not the less exchanged between us 
 when we meet in the world." 
 
 " Ay ! but usual coiu-tesies, my dear Fare- 
 ham, will scarcely serve my turn ! Indeed, I 
 have more than once heard the old Lord express 
 his regret, that your courtesies ivere so ^ usual l^ 
 Lord Clantullin is much attached to you. Fare- 
 ham ; and was observing to me the other day, 
 that it was hard enough, because he had lost 
 you as a son-in-law, he was to lose you as a 
 friend. De Lisle, I know, strove to impress
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 287 
 
 them all with the conviction, that you cherished 
 the most vindictive feehngs towards the whole 
 famHy." 
 
 " If I thought that," cried Lord Fareham, 
 drawing the razor impetuously through his hand, 
 to the great danger of dismemberment, " I 
 would call there with you this very day !" — 
 
 " Then think it, and believe it !" cried 
 Aymer; " for I give you my soul, that while 
 that Judas of a kinsman of your's was prose- 
 cuting his suit to Lady Evelyn, he was never 
 w^eary of attributing to you the sentiments of 
 envy, hatred and mahce, to which, the moment 
 his unexpected proposals produced an explana- 
 tion between them adverse to his hopes, his 
 own bitter heart gave vent ! — Had he not 
 quitted England in the haste he did, trust me, 
 I would have caUed him heavily to account for 
 the intemperance of his conduct towards poor 
 Evelyn, whom he appears to have both loved 
 and hated like a madman." 
 
 More and more agitated by all he was hear-
 
 288 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 ing, Lord Fareham was forced to have re- 
 course to actual menaces, in order to get rid 
 of his companion. 
 
 " Unless you leave me to dress," said he, 
 " I will not accompany you to Lord Clantullin's, 
 — I will not use my influence in your favour, — 
 I will do nothing — nothing you have asked me !" 
 
 But that the brains of Lord Thomas were 
 bewildered with love-sick visions of his own, he 
 would probably have discovered from Fare- 
 ham's unusual perturbation and inconsistency, 
 that it would have been as difficult for him to 
 refrain from the threatened visit, as the utmost 
 wishes of his companion could desire. 
 
 When, however, they reached the house 
 (the approach to which had become as much 
 a matter of emotion as ever to the minister's 
 son), though instantly admitted, in favour of 
 Lord Thomas Aymer's privileges in the family, 
 the expectations of the latter were miserably 
 disappointed on learning that the Earl was 
 already gone to his club.
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 289 
 
 " How provoking !" cried he, on hearing this 
 announcement from the servant, just as they 
 reached the drawing-room door. " And after 
 your making the sacrifice of coming here, my 
 dear Fareham, for the sole purpose of talking 
 him over ! — Confoundedly vexatious, I must 
 admit ! — Perhaps you had rather not see Mary 
 and her sister under the circumstances ? — If 
 so," he continued, seizing the servant by the 
 skirts of his coat, as he was pressing forward 
 to announce them, " if so, make your escape ! 
 You can come with me another day, at an 
 earlier hour, when we are sure of finding Lord 
 ClantuUin." 
 
 Muttering something about, " not choosing 
 to show disrespect to Lady Mary Lorn and her 
 sister," Lord Fareham, instead of profiting by 
 the opportunity of flight thus afforded, walked 
 coolly on, — that is, not coolly, — but as steadily 
 as he could, towards the table where Lady 
 Evelyn sat poring over her Berlin work, as 
 though the chief happiness left her in life con- 
 
 VOL. I. o
 
 290 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 sisted in the numbering of her stitches. On 
 hearing the announcement of visitors, she raised 
 her quiet eyes; and her colour rose of itself, 
 even unto vivid scarlet, on perceiving by how 
 wholly undreamed of a guest her future brother- 
 in-law was accompanied. 
 
 It required all the self-command Lord Fare- 
 ham could possibly exercise, on witnessing these 
 irrepressible symptoms of emotion, to refrain 
 from snatching her hands at once, into his own, 
 and exclaiming, " Evelyn, have you then always 
 loved me, — and do you love me still !" — 
 
 But he did command himself; for not alone 
 was the restless incautious Lord Thomas present 
 with them, but the painful recollection of his 
 own degraded condition. Though already 
 secretly convinced that the peculiarities of his 
 position, even if known to Lady Evelyn, had 
 exercised no share in her decision against him, 
 he could not forget that he was an obscure 
 and needy changeling, — how unworthy a suitor 
 for one like her !
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 291 
 
 The warm greeting bestowed upon him by 
 Lady Mary Lorn, who now hurried in from the 
 further drawing-room to bid him a hearty 
 welcome to the house, served to place the 
 embarrassed silence of ^Evelyn in stronger re- 
 Hef ; and it was perhaps to punish his volatile 
 little love for such affectionate civilities to 
 another, that Lord Thomas hastened to draw 
 her back to the remote writing-table from 
 whence she came, — whispering by the way, as 
 though he had business of the utmost conse- 
 quence to unfold; — though the business was 
 probably of that very impalpable nature which 
 lovers who meet daily, always find occasion to 
 communicate in whispers. 
 
 And thus, Lord Fareham and Evelyn were 
 left alone — or nearly alone; and considering 
 that, for the next ten minutes, only broken and 
 incoherent words were exchanged between them, 
 it is amazing how readily they came to a mutual 
 understanding of each other's sentiments. Con- 
 gratulations on her sister's approaching happi- 
 
 o 2
 
 292 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 ness were followed by expressions of surprise, 
 on Lord Fareham's part, that a suspicion of 
 her attachment to Aymer had never crossed 
 his mind. Then, with uncontrollable impetuo- 
 sity, he suddenly exclaimed, " but can it be 
 possible, — dearest — dearest Evelyn, — that you 
 were equally blind, — ^nay, — that you so miscon- 
 ceived her affections, as to suppose them fixed 
 upon myself?" • 
 
 A few words and a great deal of confusion 
 avowed all; and Lord Fareham was about to 
 possess himself of the slender hand that 
 trembled invitingly on the embroidery fran[ie 
 of Lady Evelyn, when a sudden recollection of 
 his fatal situation recalled him to himself. 
 
 Starting up, he walked to the window to 
 recover breath; and was gathering courage to 
 reapproach her, and attempt some less interest- 
 ing topic of conversatioij, when lo! a sudden 
 impulse overmastered his resolution. 
 
 " Enough — enough of concealments!" thought 
 he. " Too much misery has been occasioned
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 293 
 
 to both, by unnatural reserve!" And in a 
 subdued but firm voice, he forthwith succinctly 
 related to her the terrible tale he had heard 
 from Sir James De Lisle, and the resolution 
 he had formed to confide all to Lord Arlingham 
 on their return to Fareham Castle, at the close 
 of the session. 
 
 " And you could think so meanly of me," 
 exclaimed Lady Evelyn Lorn, tears stealing 
 down her cheeks while she spoke, " as to 
 suppose that my rejection had so vile a motive ? 
 — ^You could attribute to the woman you loved, 
 and who loved you so dearly, such pitiful 
 heartlessness, as to desert you for this ! Oh ! 
 FarehapQ, Fareham! — of all the griefs I have 
 undergone for your sake, such want of confi- 
 dence on your part is the most afflicting 
 ofaU!" 
 
 * To a man so happy as the young " hght of 
 the century," at that moment, it proved no 
 very difficult feat of eloquence to convince her 
 that, entangled as he was by the meshes of Sir
 
 294 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 James De Lisle, it had been impossible to judge 
 fairly of her sentiments or opinions. 
 
 " If I have erred, I have also suffered," said 
 he, in conclusion. " But Heaven knows my 
 worst sufferings are fully compensated, by the 
 joy of this moment ; — even with the certainty 
 I anticipate, that Lord Clantullin will be far less 
 generously disposed than yourself towards the 
 miserable outcast, who, for a time, still presumes 
 to call himself Lord Arlingham's son." 
 
 " You wrong yourself and us to say so !" 
 cried she, indifferent to the fact that the at- 
 tention of her sister and Lord Thomas was 
 becoming gradually excited by the eagerness of 
 her gestures. " My father now understands 
 and appreciates your worth. You are no longer 
 the nameless boy, over whom he used last year 
 to exercise some degree of authority. Did 
 you only know how often he has expressed to 
 me his wonder and displeasure at my affected 
 change of sentiments towards you, — how often 
 he has dwelt on your growing distinctions, —
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 295 
 
 and how constantly his heart has yearned to- 
 wards you, as towards a son lost to his old 
 age ! Do not injure my poor dear father by 
 the supposition that, even as the adopted 
 of his friend and chosen of his daughter, 
 he will not warmly welcome you into his 
 family." 
 
 Thus . encouraged, it was not very difficult 
 for Lord Fareham to hope so too. Before they 
 met again on the morrow, however, — (still on 
 pretext to Aymer of a projected political argu- 
 mentation with the Earl), the intelligent mind 
 of Lady Evelyn had considered and re-considered 
 the question, till a thousand inconsistencies 
 sprang to view in the history related by Sir 
 James. 
 
 " He tells you," said she, " that the real 
 infant of Lord and Lady Arlingham died in 
 its infancy. Yet a child, a foundling was un- 
 questionably reared by him, — whom he has 
 hitherto designated as the orphan of one of
 
 296 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 his tenants. I have seen this young man, who 
 is of your own age — " 
 
 " And you believe him to be the still sur- 
 viving son of Lord Arlingham ?" demanded the 
 young Lord, pale with dismay. 
 
 " On the contrary, I believe him to be the 
 unfortunate child he described to you; reared 
 by himself from motives of charity, but sub- 
 sequently seized upon as an implement of 
 mischief No sooner had he conceived that 
 odious passion for myself, (of the existence of 
 which, till the declaration passed his lips, I had 
 as little suspicion as yourself), than all means 
 appeared lawful to him, which purported to 
 disunite me from you, and leave me, (as he 
 trusted), at his disposal. It was he who first 
 hinted to me that Mary's illness arose from a 
 disappointment of the affections, of which you 
 were the object. Then, doubting perhaps, my 
 power of controlling my own, he devised this 
 vile calumny, — this cruel slander. The two
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 297 
 
 falsehoods united so far served his purpose, 
 as to dissolve our engagement. That they 
 would eventually make me his wife he, doubt- 
 less, further contemplated ; and then, it would 
 have mattered little to a wretch like De Lisle^ 
 that the truth came to light, — ^regardless of 
 our broken hearts, or his tarnished honour ! 
 — Heaven, dearest Fareham, had better care 
 ofus— " 
 
 " Say rather, that your own steadfast affec- 
 tion had better care of me /" interrupted Lord 
 Fareham. " Oh ! that this wild surmise of^ 
 your imagination, dear Evelyn, might prove 
 true ! — ^That the blood in my veins might still 
 be worthy of you, by uniting me in kindred 
 with the best of men." 
 
 The days that succeeded, if occasionally che- 
 quered by anxiety, were replete with happiness 
 for the young couple. It was agreed between 
 them that the moment parliament was up, 
 Lord Fareham shoiild proceed to the continent, 
 trace step by step and stage by stage, the route 
 
 o 3
 
 298 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 of Sir James De Lisle, till he could bring him 
 to a personal explanation, and demand the instant 
 surrender of all vouchers connected with the 
 pretended exchange of children; besides suffi- 
 cient attestation of the origin of the youth he 
 had adopted. 
 
 Till this was effected, — till perfect conviction 
 glared upon them, — Lady Evelyn refused the 
 slightest credit to a tale, assigning ignoble blood 
 to the man of her heart; and if proved, she 
 expressed her fiill determination to abide by 
 his change of fortunes, and persist to the utmost 
 in her engagements. 
 
 Meanwhile, there was no occasion to unsettle 
 the mind of her father by premature disclo- 
 sures; and it was with no smaU delight that 
 Lord Clantullin watched the gradual re-establish- 
 ment • in his house of the son-in-law, in whose 
 former disappointment he had taken so affec- 
 tionate a part. 
 
 " No accounting for the caprice of woman's 
 nature!" was the argument by which he re-
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 299 
 
 conciled to himself the inconsistency of his 
 daughter. " I suppose Evelyn does not wish 
 to see her sister married before her. Or per- 
 haps she has grown wiser, before it was too late ! 
 — No matter what the cause which secures 
 the most amiable and rising young man in 
 England, to become the happy husband of my 
 chHd." 
 
 In these friendly sentiments, Lord Arlingham 
 more than coincided; — for he had the satis- 
 faction of perceiving that, so far from diminish- 
 ing his zeal in political life, the renewal of Lord 
 Fareham's attachment served only to stimulate 
 his labours; — Lady Evelyn Lorn being too 
 proud of his official triumphs, to admit of any 
 relaxation for the indulgence of their lighter 
 pleasures. To know that she was among his 
 auditors, added fire to his parliamentary elo- 
 quence and joy to his success !
 
 300 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 He dies and makes no sign ! 
 Oh God ! — Forgive him ! 
 
 SHAKSPEARE. 
 
 The season was drawing to a close. The 
 families of heavy country Baronets were begin- 
 ning to pack their heavy family waggons, and 
 depart for their heavy country seats ; and as 
 the throng became less dense, groupings 
 were forced upon the notice of the vulgar 
 heretofore concealed by the intervention of the 
 polite crowd. 
 
 The engagement of Lady Mary Lorn, and 
 Lord Thomas Aymer accordingly aiforded a 
 paragraph to the daily papers, which had no 
 longer more than an occasional ball, or official
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 301 
 
 dinner, to furnish matter for their fashionable 
 intelligence ; and when, at the end of the week, 
 the news became by repetition from paper to 
 paper somewhat stale, a journal more speculative 
 than the rest ventured to add, that " if rumour 
 might be credited, the two daughters of the 
 noble House of ClantuUin were likely to make 
 a new and most auspicious bond of union, 
 between the heads of the Coalition administra- 
 tion." 
 
 On the theme thus afforded, other papers 
 produced variations, ad lihitum ; till, at length; 
 the " marriage of Lord Fareham, only son of 
 the Earl of Arlingham, with Lady Evelyn Lorn, 
 eldest daughter of the Earl of Clantullin, was 
 formally announced." 
 
 Great was the annoyance of those whom 
 the newspapers designated as the happy pair ! 
 For under aU the circumstances, denial was 
 impossible. They were continually together, — 
 together as of old, when their engagement was 
 a matter of public avowal Yet Lord Fareham
 
 302 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 was keenly alive to the probability that, should 
 the report, by the aid of that European missive, 
 Galignani's Messenger, reach the ears of De 
 Lisle, he would not fail to address to Lord 
 Clantullin a disclosure of the terrible mystery 
 overclouding the prospects of his future son- 
 in-law. Lady Evelyn, however, was firm and 
 courageous. 
 
 " He will not dare address to my father," 
 said she, " the monstrous falsehood which your 
 delicacy of feeling alone invested with probability. 
 Even suppose the worst not only revealed, but 
 proved, you have nothing to fear. I am yours, 
 dearest Fareham, still and for ever 1" — 
 
 With such encouragement to happiness. Lord 
 Fareham soon learned to " defy augury ;" and 
 the last debates of the closing session were 
 brightened by a still more arduous exercise of 
 his abilities. 
 
 Nevertheless, there were moments, — even 
 amid the cheers of the House, — even amid the 
 still more bewildering whispers conveying as-
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 303 
 
 surance of Evelyn's affection, — when a sudden 
 and indescribable panic, recalled to his mind 
 the instability of his joys, — ^like a sprig of yew 
 suddenly discovered in the midst of a glowing 
 group of summer roses. Every morning, the 
 post-knock caused his heart to beat impetuously, 
 with apprehensions of an interruption to his 
 happiness ; nor was a letter ever brought to 
 Lord Arlingham or the father of Lady Evelyn, 
 in his presence, without chilling his very soul 
 vdth the dread that it might prove to be in the 
 handwriting of Sir James De Lisle. Since he 
 had refrained from tormenting his gentle love 
 with the avowal of these terrors, they had 
 become only the more poignant ; and his health 
 was gradually giving way under the influence 
 of a perpetual flurry of spirits. 
 
 Lord Fareham's sole comfort consisted in 
 the knowledge that only a few more days 
 remained unexpired of the session ; when, with 
 the sense of having fully discharged his duty 
 to Lord Arlingham, he might set forth on his
 
 304 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 expedition to the continent for the solution of 
 that terrible enigma. 
 
 Two nights before the prorogation of parlia- 
 ment, however, just as, after a tedious debate, 
 he was preparing to quit the House which a 
 sultry August night rendered past all power of 
 ventilation, — jaded and weary, — with his spirits 
 nearly as much depressed as his bodily frame, — 
 he was pounced upon by Harbottle Drifting- 
 ton !— 
 
 " My dear Fareham," cried he, " accept my 
 sincerest condolence ! — I was quite surprised to 
 see you here to-night, in your place, after the 
 terrible story in the evening papers ! However, 
 you did very wisely and kindly in lending us 
 your aid, and defying the impertinent scrutiny 
 of the world." 
 
 Lord Fareham almost staggered from the 
 detaining grasp of his importunate companion. 
 
 " What story?" he exclaimed, scarcely able 
 ito breathe. " I do not understand you !" 
 
 " This sad story about De Lisle ! — But you
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 305 
 
 must have been aware of it all, before it got 
 into print !" 
 
 "I am at present ignorant what has got 
 into print," faltered Lord Fareham, directing his 
 steps with the view of instantly referring to the 
 papers rather than to his companion, for further 
 explanations. 
 
 But Driftington would not be shaken off. 
 
 " I confess I never expected De Lisle to 
 be a man of such intensity of passion," said he. 
 " He always appeared to me a reserved, caUous,, 
 selfish fellow \ attached only to you^ and con- 
 sequently the last man on earth to do you an 
 injury. But you may remember, I was the 
 first person to apprise you of the existence of 
 that mysterious youth." 
 
 " If you will only allow me to glance at the 
 Globe or Standard," murmured the almost 
 breathless Fareham. 
 
 " Nay, my dear fellow, — if you are really in 
 the dark, (of which I had not the least idea 
 when I accosted you), I can tell you the whole
 
 306 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 story. In one word, De Lisle who, as I need 
 not inform you, has been touring in the Pyren- 
 nees has put an end to himself. A letter from 
 Bagn^res de Bigorre to the Editor of the Cou- 
 rier, announces his having shot himself in a fit 
 of violent exasperation ; and it was reported to- 
 night at Boodle's, (which he has frequented, 
 you know, these thii-ty years), that he has left 
 his whole fortune to his adopted son. Bad 
 news for you, Fareham, who, I fancy, are his 
 next of kin !" 
 
 Instead of replying, Lord Fareham addressed 
 himself to the perusal of the newspapei^, which 
 for a wonder, contained precisely the intelligence 
 communicated by Driftington ; tempered by 
 suitable expressions of horror at the determined 
 nature of the suicide. 
 
 To obtain further information at that hour 
 of the night, was impossible. The servants in 
 Park Place must have been many hours asleep. 
 No means of even appealing to the sympathy 
 of Lady Evelyn ! The remainder of the night
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 307 
 
 must necessarily be agonised by solitary sus- 
 pense ; to be exchanged, perhaps, when morning 
 dawned, for certitude still harder to be borne. 
 
 That the last rash act of his enemy had been 
 accelerated by the rumour of his marriage with 
 Lady Evelyn, Lord Fareham entertained little 
 doubt. But that closing crime had, in all pro- 
 bability, been preceded by some further attempt 
 at vengeance on himself! 
 
 Without having retired to bed, at the earliest 
 possible hour he was at the door in Park. 
 Place ; trusting to obtain particulars, previous to 
 his interview with Lord Arlingham. But he 
 could hear nothing more than had been com- 
 municated by the newspapers ; the sincere afflic- 
 tion of the old family servants rendering it 
 difficult to press his inquiries. All the butler 
 had to relate was, that his master had been 
 committed to the grave the day following his 
 fearful act; and that Evans, who was on his 
 road home, would explain all. 
 
 " And he will, perhaps, be weeks on the
 
 308 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 road !" exclaimed Lord Fareham, in utter des- 
 pair; bitterly accusing himself of supineness 
 in not having set forth in search of De Lisle, 
 the very day following his reconciliation with 
 Evelyn Lorn. 
 
 Struck by the altered appearance of the 
 young Lord, the butler, attributing his deep 
 emotion to the anxieties of next of kinship to 
 Holme Court, suggested that his Lordship 
 might possibly obtain further information from 
 the family lawyer in Bloomsbury ; and to Poun- 
 cit's office Lord Fareham instantly hurried, though 
 with far other than the views attributed to him. 
 
 " Your Lordship, I perceive, has received my 
 letter," was the opening salutation of Sir James 
 De Lisle's solicitor, on the announcement of his 
 name. " I have to thank you, my Lord, for 
 this prompt compliance with my request for an 
 interview." 
 
 No need to apprise Mr. Pouncit, that the 
 letter must have crossed him on the way, and 
 that his visit was spontaneous.
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 309 
 
 "I am only awaiting the arrival of Mr. 
 Meredyth from Cambridge," resumed the law-- 
 yer, " to open in his presence and yours, the 
 wiE of my late unfortunate client. Such, my 
 Lord, were the instructions of Sir James De 
 Lisle, in the event of mischance occurring to him 
 during his absence from England. Presenti- 
 ments of evil, nay, perhaps fatal intentions, had 
 possession of his mind at the moment of his 
 departure from town. His last act was to 
 consign to my custody family papers of im- . 
 portance, instructing me that he had constituted 
 one Lawrence Meredyth, his sole heir, on con- 
 dition of his assuming the family name." 
 
 " And this young man," cried Lord Fareham, 
 with a degree of emotion naturally ascribed by 
 the lawyer to disappointment of his expectations 
 of inheritance, " this young man was by birth 
 an obscure orphan, — an adventurer picked up 
 in infancy by Sir James ?" — 
 
 " I fear so. I have reason to suppose that 
 your Lordship's claims to this fine property
 
 310 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 have been set aside in favour of a person issued 
 from the lowest dregs of the populace." 
 
 " Thank Heaven !" exclaimed Lord Fareham, 
 gasping for breath, and with a fervour of sin- 
 cerity which induced the sober Mr. Pouncit to 
 apprehend that the brains of the whole De Lisle 
 family might be somewhat infirm. 
 
 " The motives of displeasure against your 
 Lordship, which may have influenced my late 
 client to alter the dispositions of his wiU," re- 
 sumed the astonished lawyer, " are probably 
 detailed in a letter, committed by Sir James to 
 my charge, to be delivered to your Lordship 
 in the event of his decease." 
 
 " A letter to me ?" cried Lord Fareham, 
 impatiently. 
 
 " Such, my Lord, was my motive for re- 
 questing the favour of seeing you here," resumed 
 Mr. Pouncit, deliberately unlocking a patent 
 deed chest, bearing the name of the deceased 
 Baronet ; and though the eager hands into 
 which he now proceeded to deliver a voluminous
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 311 
 
 packet, trembled so violently as to be scarcely 
 able to break the seals, the judicious lawyer 
 kept prosing and descanting on, concerning the 
 nature of the De Lisle estate and other ques- 
 tions connected with the property, as calmly 
 as though the agitated young man before him 
 had been a professional brother. 
 
 At length, grown desperate under this grie- 
 vous persecution. Lord Fareham demanded to 
 be left alone for the perusal of an important 
 document, in a tone of impetuosity that over- 
 awed even the professional self-possession of 
 Mr. Pouncit; who glided out of the room with 
 an air of pretended unconcern, like a keeper in 
 search of a strait waistcoat for a dangerous 
 patient. 
 
 Yet, no sooner was Lord Fareham left alone, 
 than it became his turn to succumb, — over- 
 mastered by the contending emotions of his 
 soul. After opening the packet, many minutes 
 elapsed ere the mistiness of sight produced by 
 the writing of one whose hand, since those lines
 
 312 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 were traced, had perpetrated an act so terrible, 
 admitted of decyphering the contents. 
 
 At length, a strong effort enabled him to 
 peruse the following bitter lines : 
 
 " When this letter meets your eye, you will 
 be delivered from my influence; but it will be 
 yours, Fareham, that has driven me into the grave! 
 — Deem not, therefore, that I am about to seek 
 your pardon for sufferings inflicted. Reflect upon 
 mine; and wonder not that now, even now, I 
 breathe back upon you a curse that I would fain 
 perpetuate upon your head, and the heads of your 
 childi-en, unto the third and fourth generation ! — 
 
 " I was, I suppose, born of an implacable 
 nature. The only object I remember to have 
 loved in childhood, was your heartless mother ; 
 who, violating every vow which the fond devo- 
 tion of my youth obtained, bestowed her hand 
 and heart upon another ! Fareham ! — when I 
 first beheld Selina with her hand fondly clasped 
 in that of your father, I swore to be avenged
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 313 
 
 upon both, even were it at the cost of my 
 • salvation ! 
 
 " In adopting the unfortunate child, which 
 an evil chance threw in my way, my first idea 
 was to substitute it for yourself But the fidelity 
 of your old nurse defeated my hopes. I had 
 trusted too far on my influence over her. 
 The excitement of a contest with me, on the 
 subject, produced her sudden death ! 
 
 " Still, my projects of revenge were not 
 abandoned. Over your boyhood, Fareham, did 
 I watch, with mingled love and hatred. You 
 were my sole object in life. Selina had escaped 
 me. But you survived ; — a vulnerable point 
 through which it seemed easy to strike to her 
 heart, even through the windings of her shroud. 
 Had you seen what she was when she beguiled 
 me into quitting England by promises of un- 
 changeable fidelity, you would understand my 
 feelings ! — 
 
 " Enthralled by a master passion, my youth 
 passed loveless and unendeared away. So long 
 
 VOL. I. p
 
 314 THE BIRTHRiaHT. 
 
 as your father*s wife survived, there was no 
 other woman for me on earth; and when she 
 sank into an early grave, the spirit of vengeance 
 seemed to assume her form, promising me com- 
 pensation for the miseries of my wasted ex- 
 istence. 
 
 " For a time, I cherished a vain hope that 
 your nature might prove such as to inflict 
 disappointment on your father. But I was soon 
 undeceived. A golden summer succeeded to 
 an auspicious spring ; and watching you as I 
 did with the intense hatred of jealousy, not a 
 flaw could I discover afl'ording promise of evil 
 to come !^ — 
 
 " At length, you loved ; and the eagerness 
 wherewith I examined the object of your young 
 afl'ections, trusting that she, at least, would 
 aflbrd me a source of revenge, revealed to me 
 all the charms, aU the excellencies, all the no- 
 bility of heart and soul, of Evelyn Lorn. 
 
 " Fatal discovery ! — I was taken in my own 
 toils ! The constancy of my attachment to your
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT* 315 
 
 mother, had secured to my feelings a sort of 
 unnatural freshness, — a second summer ; and 
 in the first instance an object of interest to me 
 solely on your account, the woman you loved 
 soon became passionately dear on her own. 
 Lady Evelyn appeared to my diseased soul the 
 legitimate successor to my love for Selina De 
 Lisle, — an emanation as it were from her 
 memory, — a bright phantom issuing from her 
 grave ! — Judge whether my sentiments towards 
 you were softened by the knowledge that again 
 I was fated to despair, — that this gentle being 
 was to become your wife ! — 
 
 " I swore that this should never be ! Satisfied 
 that a sentiment of honour would prevent your 
 claiming the fiilfilment of her engagement if 
 persuaded of the ignominy of your birth, the 
 distorted fragments of my real history were 
 easily so adjusted as to distract your mind. 
 The impression with which I had already in- 
 spired Lady Evelyn of her sister's attachment, 
 effected the rest; and then, Fareham, then, 
 
 p 2
 
 316 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 when for a time I succeeded in disuniting you, 
 and recommending myself to her society as the 
 only person from whom she could obtain tidings 
 of your welfare, then, indeed, I entertained hopes 
 of doubling the sweetness of my revenge. It 
 seemed impossible she could remain insensible 
 to the intensity of passion burning in my heart. 
 ,The deference with which she used to listen 
 to me, — the gratitude with which she requited 
 my devotion, — the feebleness and gentleness 
 produced by her declining health, served to 
 confirm my power over her mind. — Yes ! I 
 flattered myself — madman that I was, — that^ 
 in time, I should be beloved ! And oh ! the 
 agony of waking from that heavenly dream 1 
 the second cruel agony of my life, — and both, 
 hoth derived from the same execrated source ! 
 
 " To-morrow, I quit England for ever. I 
 will not expose myself to the misery of seeing 
 your face again, — to the shame of again looking 
 upon Evelyn's. I go forth into banishment, 
 to end in curses and imprecations, the wretched
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 317 
 
 days blighted by the influence of you and 
 yours ! — 
 
 " The spoils of the exile shall at least serve 
 to enrich one endeared to me by a long 
 cherished hope that he might become the 
 instrument of my revenge. He shall be so, 
 though in a less degree, by excluding you from 
 the heritage of your maternal ancestors. 
 
 " Tell all this to Evelyn. Half my love 
 for her originated in hatred of yourself; and 
 both — both in the wanton faithlessness of your - 
 mother. Let women lay this to their hearts ; — 
 that the monstrous brood of evil passions which 
 devastates society, is generated by their cor- 
 ruption. I go from hence with loathing in my 
 heart — and on my lips a " 
 
 The letter appeared to have been abruptly 
 broken off, as if in a paroxysm of frenzy ; and 
 a suspicion now arose in the mind of Lord 
 Fareham, which the intelligence soon afterwards 
 brought to England by the faithful servant of
 
 318 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 Sir James De Lisle tended to confirm, that, for 
 some time past, the mind of his unfortunate 
 master had been subject to aberration. It 
 appeared that the state of excitement under 
 the influence of which he terminated his exist- 
 ence, was the result of the announcement of 
 Lord Fareham's approaching marriage, commu- 
 nicated by the public journals. 
 
 So manifest, indeed, were the symptoms of 
 insanity in his testamentary dispositions, that 
 they would probably have been untenable in a 
 court of law, had Lord Fareham, as nearest 
 of kin to the deceased, been disposed to dispute 
 them. But he was too well aware of the 
 intentions of De Lisle, and entertained too 
 heartfelt an abhorrence of himself, his name, 
 and property, not to leave in undisputed pos- 
 session the young man in whose favour fortune 
 had exercised one of those signal caprices, which 
 every now and then diversify the monotonous 
 tenour of this world. 
 
 Moreover, the happiness of Lord Fareham
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 319 
 
 was now too perfect to admit of undue coveting 
 of silver or gold. 
 
 " After all," said he, when, after throwing 
 himself into the arms of his beloved father, he 
 indulged in aU the expansion of joy arising 
 from restoration to that happy tie, — " after all, 
 but for the bitter hours I have endured during 
 the last few months, I should never have fiilly 
 appreciated my worldly position, or been suffi- 
 ciently thankful to the bounty of Providence. 
 How calmly I used to contemplate the distinc-, 
 tion of being son to such a father ! How little 
 I understood the value of Evelyn's affection ! 
 Alas ! — if the thought of having given me pain 
 afforded any solace to my perverse and unfor- 
 tunate kinsman, in his last moments, what 
 torture would it not have inflicted upon him 
 to foresee that, but for his malicious intervention, 
 I should never have fully enjoyed the happiness 
 of the present hour." 
 
 Nor has this feeling become blunted by a 
 long series of worldly prosperity. Though Lord
 
 320 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 
 
 Fareham has now attained the highest honours 
 of the state, while Fareham Castle rings with 
 the joyous voices of his beautiful children, the 
 name of Holme Court or of its present possessor 
 is never mentioned before him, without over- 
 clouding his brow with momentary sadness, or 
 calling up in his heart a sentiment of profound 
 gratitude to Heaven. 
 
 Vainly has Mr. Harbottle Driftington en- 
 deavoured, by his unsilenceable interrogation of 
 Lord and Lady Thomas Aymer, to discover 
 the motives which render the name of Sir 
 James De Lisle, an interdicted topic at Fareham 
 Castle. 
 
 "It is the strangest thing," said he, the 
 other day, (after interrupting at Middleton Hall, 
 the renewal of the old courtship between Sit- 
 well, and the superanuated coquette, his dis- 
 carded love), " but Lord Fareham cannot endure 
 the smallest allusion to your neighbour at Holme 
 Court!"— 
 
 " Men of Lord Fareham's class seldom wit-
 
 THE BIRTHRIGHT. 321 
 
 ness with patience the elevation of a parvenu /" 
 observed Sitwell, with a sneer. 
 
 " Men of any class seldom relish being ousted 
 out of an inheritance !" added Sir Edward Mid- 
 dleton. 
 
 " And yet, if you believe me," cried Drifting- 
 ton, " Lord Thomas Aymer had the audacity 
 to assure me the other day, that the name of 
 Sir James De Lisle was held sacred by the 
 Farehams, only because but for him, they should 
 never have known how to appreciate the value 
 of a Birthright !" — 
 
 END OF VOL. I, 
 
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