“The Legitimist bazaar—to obtain funds on behalf of the cause,” the curate explained.
The Duchess of Trent knitted her brows.
“I am afraid I don’t understand. What cause is that, if you please?”
The Rev. Aloysius faltered somewhat in his speech as he answered:
“It is the cause of the legitimate monarchs who have been excluded from their thrones by—ah—popular insurrections, and—ah—constitutions and republics, and so on. The Duke of Orleans is one of our principal objects,” he went on rather hurriedly, observing a significant frown come over her Grace’s brow at the word constitution—“rightfully Louis XIX of France; and then there is Don Carlos of Spain, and the Duke of Cumberland, and others. Many of us consider that the Bishop of Rome has been wrongfully deprived of his sovereign rights by the House of Savoy.”
“Any more?” asked the Duchess, with some scorn. “I shall be glad to know whether you consider the Queen as a usurper, because I have served in her household as a girl, and I have no desire to conspire against her in my old age.”
The curate of St. Jermyn’s cast down his eyes.
“Oh, I dare say there are a few members of the Guild who hold, in an academical spirit, of course, that the elder branch of the Stuarts are entitled to our allegiance, but that is really more a pose than anything else. No one intends the slightest disrespect towards Queen Victoria. But the French Republic is very different; its intolerance towards the religious orders must make every Christian wish to see its downfall.”
“I am afraid that I do not sympathize with your views sufficiently to care to come to your bazaar,” the Duchess said dryly. “It appears to me that Legitimism, according to your account of it, is another name for Roman Catholicism, and I am a Protestant.” The Rev. Aloysius looked pained. “Besides,” her Grace went on severely, “even if this nonsense about the Stuarts is only a pose, as you say, it seems to me in very bad taste. I only trust it is not actually treasonable.”
Mr. Grimes bit his lip. Then he put on a touch of bravado as he replied: