humble in manner, yet with a hidden
triumph in his creaking voice. "I but dallied
with the time till retreating footsteps should
have leisure to descend your ladyship's
staircase."

"I see no jest," said Lady Humphrey,
curtly; " and we have no eavesdroppers here.
Pray be good enough to proceed."

"Pardon again!" said the little man. "I
delay no longer. It is true there is a matter
which I am come to speak of. Our young friend
is in London at this moment."

"In London!" echoed the lady. " And what
of that? Why is he in London?"

"For an excellent purpose, your ladyship.
Neither you nor I could have a motive more
innocent or more laudable. Sir Archie Munro
comes to London—to meet a friend."

Lady Humphrey made an impatient gesture.
"And the friend?" she questioned.

"Comes from Paris. And is not so much
a friend of Sir Archie as of Ireland. A
banished patriot, a sufferer in the great cause,
who ventures to England in disguise, to carry
information to his fellow-rebels, and to seek
it."

"And Sir Archie meets him to receive such
information, and to give it?" said Lady
Humphrey, fully aroused now. "This is more than
we had reason to hope for."

"We suppose it to be so, Lady Humphrey—
we suppose it to be so," said the little man,
growing mysterious and abstracted as her
ladyship's interest got enkindled.

"It is all that we require, is it not?" said
Lady Humphrey, her voice beginning to quaver
with the passion of her eagerness.

"If things turn out well, why—yes," said
Mr. Campion. "But 'there's many a slip,'
you know, my lady. If this information of
mine be worth anything, we must witness the
interview."

"Will that be possible?" asked Lady
Humphrey. "Have you people who can manage
such a difficulty?"

"We will look to it ourselves, Lady
Humphrey. We will do our own work, and it will
be done all the better."

"Go on," said the lady.

"Lady Humphrey has doubtless intended to
grace with her presence the fancy ball at
Almack's, which is to be held on the twentieth of
this month."

"This is the fourteenth," said Lady
Humphrey. "Go on."

"Sir Archie Munro will wear a blue domino,"
said Mr. Campion, with his eyes upon the ceiling;
"and the friend from over the water will
wear a black one, with a mask. I am not yet
sure who the latter may be. Two or three
names have been mentioned. It may prove to
be the arch conspirator himself, Wolfe Tone.
It will be enough for Sir Archie Munro to be
taken in his company. An acquaintance of
mine, whom it will not be necessary for me to
introduce to your ladyship, must attach himself
to our party. And neither of our gallant
compatriots need return to his own lodging that
night."

"A strange place to be chosen for their
conference," said Lady Humphrey.

"A good place, and cleverly thought of,"
said the little man, beginning to twinkle his
eyes about again and to chuckle. "There is
not a lonely garret in all London so safe for telling
secrets as the centre of such a mad conceited
crowd. But we will dog their steps, my Lady
Humphrey, and we will trip them up. Not a
vain belle nor silly coxcomb in the place shall
be led such a dance as we will lead them. Aha!
we will trip them up!"

Lady Humphrey sat silent and reflecting.
"In that case," she said, "if this thing goes
well, we shall not require any one in Ireland
on the spot." And she thought within herself
that Hester might go back to Mrs. Gossamer's
at any time.

"If this thing goes well," said Mr. Campion,
"all that we can do will be necessarily finished
off at once. We shall be rewarded for our
services to the value of our services at present.
But your ladyship must remember that the
goodly consequences of our loyal endeavours
must be much less important now than they are
sure to be some six months hence. The evil in
Ireland is growing apace. Next spring, next
summer, will see the active operations of a civil
war. Nothing easier than a transfer of
property then, Lady Humphrey. Not a few paltry
thousands for your trouble, but a wholesale
transfer—money, lands, goods, and chattels.
Nothing to be done but make a bonfire of the
escutcheon of the Munros."

"'A bird in the hand, is worth two in the
bush'—Mr. Campion is fond of proverbs, I
observe," said Lady Humphrey, after a grim
pause.

"True, true!" said Mr. Campion, rubbing
his hands with glee. "And if we can settle
Sir Archie's affairs for him now, how silly to
run the risk of delay! Excuse me, my lady,
but, had circumstances permitted it, what a
splendid man of business your ladyship would
have been!"

"Pshaw!" said Lady Humphrey, with
abrupt displeasure. And she sat silent and
reflecting again, thinking within herself that
Hester had better not go back to Mrs. Gossamer's
as yet.

"And those papers in your hand?" said Lady
Humphrey, by-and-by.

"Irish publications," said Mr. Campion,
"containing little noteworthy tit-bits of gossip
and news. Your ladyship will be amused and
encouraged. The wretched old hulk of a
country is going to pieces, as we have seen,
without fail. And we, my Lady Humphrey,
you and I, and mayhap other sensible people,
are like the wreckers from the coasts, who
dare the breakers to help to put the monster
out of pain. Our boat has pushed off about
the first, ha! ha! and the spoils promise well;
but just now and then we get a hint to refrain
from laying hands upon the share we have