“How not too late, my lord?” demanded the Duke, eagerly:  “all prejudices may be removed, you know; and if there were any prejudice, it was mine.”

“Still it would be an obstacle,” answered the Earl; “and the whole matter would of course be rendered much more difficult now.  There might be still more prejudices to be overcome at present.—­May I ask,” he added, abruptly, “if you have still got the note which Wilton sent you?”

“No,” answered the Duke, “no.  I destroyed it immediately, out of regard for his safety.”

“It was a wise precaution,” answered the Earl, “but unnecessary in his case.  He has friends who will manage to justify whatever he does of that kind.  Humble as he is in all his deportment, he can do many things that I could not venture to do.  I have heard the King himself say, in presence of one half of his council, that he is under great personal obligations to Wilton Brown.”

“Indeed!” exclaimed the Duke; “but may I request your lordship to inform me what it was you meant just now?  You said it might not be yet too late.”

“I fear, my lord, I must not talk to your grace on the subject,” said the Earl; “there might be conditions you would not comply with.  You might not like even the idea of flying from prison at all.”

“I do not see why, my lord,” exclaimed the Duke, “I really do not see why.  But pray, may I ask what are the conditions?”

“Nay, I make neither any suggestions nor conditions,” replied the Earl, who saw that the Duke was fully worked up to the pitch he wished, “I only spoke of such a thing as escape being very possible, if Wilton chose to arrange it; and then of course the conditions he might require for his services struck my mind.”

“Why as yet, my lord,” answered the Duke, “our noble young friend has not even named any condition as the price of his services.”

“Perhaps, your grace,” replied the Earl, “he may have become wiser by experience.  If I have understood you both right, his hopes were disappointed, and hopes which he imagined he entertained with great reason.”

“No, my lord, no!” cried the Duke.  “He had no reason for entertaining such hopes.  I cannot admit for a moment that I gave him any cause for such expectations.”

“Nay, then, my lord duke,” replied the Earl, with an offended look, “if such be your view of a case which everybody in London sees differently, the more reason why Wilton should make sure of what grounds he stands upon before he acts further in this business.  However, I have nothing to do with the affair farther than as his sincere friend, and as having the honour of being his distant relation, which of course makes me resolute in saying that I will not see his feelings sported with and his happiness destroyed.  Therefore, your grace, as we shan’t agree, I see, upon these matters, I will humbly take my leave of you.”  And he rose, as if to depart.

“Nay, nay, my lord—­you are too hasty,” replied the Duke.  “I beseech you, do not leave me in this way.  I may in former instances have given Wilton hopes without intending it; but the matter is very much altered now, when he has done so much more for me in every way.  I do not scruple at all to say that those objections are removed.”