by seeking him out at his lodgings, and dispatching him hither as quickly as may be." "With pleasure, my Lord; but before I go, may I venture to remind you of your obliging promise to present me at the Levee next Friday ?" "You have not then given information to the Police," enquired the Peer, leaving Walter's question unnoticed. "It is well-it is wellmention not the occurrence to any one, above all not to Lady Sunderland : - these foolish women are so easily frightened." 66 My lips are sealed; I will not lose a moment in finding—" "Ha! who is that? who is there?" cried the Peer suddenly drawing his sword—“ methought I heard a rattling at the closet-door." "It is nothing, my Lord, but the bough of yonder tree driven by the wind against the blinds." "Ridiculous!" exclaimed the Earl, hastily sheathing his weapon, as if ashamed of the emotion into which he had been betrayed. “I had been reading about Buckingham and Felton. See what it is to be a Minister! to have an overwrought brain, to have been sleepless all night, and to be suffering at the same time from an attack of nervous fever. Go, go! send me Seagrave instantly, and mention nothing of what you have seen or heard. I have much need of repose, but I must first see Seagrave." He waved his hand impatiently; Walter, obeying the signal, bowed, withdrew from the apartment, and hurried towards Covent Garden in search of the Captain, much musing as he went upon the singular and unaccountable agitation into which the Minister had been thrown by the relation of a circumstance apparently so incommensurate with the effect it had produced; and marvelling more especially why he should so urgently and importunately demand an instant interview with Seagrave. CHAPTER V. Now all the youth of England are on fire, SHAKSPEARE. RENDERING a literal obedience to Lord Sunderland's directions, not to mention the subject of their last conversation, so far at least as the attack of the bravoes was concerned, Walter contented himself with informing Seagrave, whom he luckily encountered at his lodgings, that he must hasten instantly to Clarendon House, his Lordship having most urgent occasion to see him. "Must-and instantly, and urgent !"—cried the Captain, setting his arms a-kimbo-" Sink me, who am I? Look you, Mynheer Wouter, these words may pass muster when an officer is on duty taking orders from his superior; but you may tell the Earl of Sunderland, Baron of Wormleighton, President of the Privy Council, Principal Secretary of State, and Knight of the Most Noble Order of the Garter, that to me he is no more than simple Bob Spencer. I care not for him, nor should I if he wore a sword for every title, and methinks therefore he might send me his requests in less imperious language." "They are his Lordship's expressions, not mine,” said Walter, who saw that the Captain was under the influence of his morning potations, and disposed to give himself airs of importance upon the strength of the message from the Peer. "Sacre, mon cher! I believe it, for you would better have known what is due to a gentleman and a soldier. What new business is toward, I wonder, that I must march to Picca dilly, in double quick time? What roysterers and swashbucklers am I now to tame? Is Sir James Hayes again to be rescued-have Culpepper and the Duke of Devonshire a second time tilted at one another's throats in the King's antichamber, or am I simply required to dispose of some vulgar desperado, with an iron sword, a tied-up wig, and a tucked-in cravat ?" • What his Lordship may require of you, I know not; but he seemed to have most cogent reasons for requesting you to be expeditious." 66 Why, then, his Secretaryship must be equally prompt in furnishing the mercede, the chink, the rhino, ay, and this long-promised Major's commission too, or he shall find that I am not the man to serve his present turn, and my honest bilboa shall go to sleep in its scabbard. Peste! Signor Gualtero, if every brave fellow were rewarded according to his deserts, I might appear in the ring, wearing a wig like a cloak, a hat like a shuttlecock, and a point lace cravat, as I rode in my own gold-mounted coach, with six Flanders mares before, and as |