“Sir,” said his lordship, without rising, “be so good as to take a chair. Mr. Beaufort is obliged to leave town—he has asked me to see you—I am one of his family—his wife is my sister—you may be as frank with me as with him,—more so, perhaps.”
“I beg the fauvour of your name, sir,” said the stranger, adjusting his collar.
“Yours first—business is business.”
“Well, then, Captain Smith.”
“Of what regiment?”
“Half-pay.”
“I am Lord Lilburne. Your name is Smith—humph!” added the peer, looking over some notes before him. “I see it is also the name of the witness appealed to by Mrs. Morton—humph!”
At this remark, and still more at the look which accompanied it, the countenance, before impudent and complacent, of Captain Smith fell into visible embarrassment; he cleared his throat and said, with a little hesitation,—
“My lord, that witness is living!”
“No doubt of it—witnesses never die where property is concerned and imposture intended.”