“If I dare present him to your Royal Highness without a uniform,” said Lord Castlereagh, hesitatingly, “he could answer these queries better than I can.”
“Oh, by Jove! it is too late for scruples now,—introduce him at once.”
Lord Castlereagh waited for no more formal permission, but, hastening to the antechamber, took Darcy's hand, and led him forward.
“If I don't mistake, sir,” said the Duke, as the old man raised his head after a deep and courteous salutation, “this is not the first time we have met. Am I correct in calling you Colonel Darcy?”
The Knight bowed low in acquiescence.
“The same officer who raised the Twenty-eighth Light Dragoons, known as Darcy's Light Horse?”
The Knight bowed once more.
“A very proud officer in command,” said the Duke, turning to Lord Castlereagh with a stern expression on his features; “a colonel who threatened a prince of the blood with arrest for breach of duty.”
“He had good reason, your Royal Highness, to be proud,” said the Knight, firmly; “first, to have a prince to serve under his command; and, secondly, to have held that station and character in the service to have rendered so unbecoming a threat pardonable.”
“And who said it was?” replied the Duke, hastily.