'And a very fortunate circumstance,' replied Seagrove; 'for if I had had a brief I should not have known what to have done with it. It is not my fault; I am fit for nothing but a commissioner. But still I had business, and very important business, too. I was summoned by Ponsonby to go with him to Tattersall's, to give my opinion about a horse he wishes to purchase, and then to attend him to Forest Wild to plead his cause with his uncle.'
'It appears, then, that you were retained,' replied Lord B.; 'may I ask you whether your friend gained his cause?'
'No, my lord, he lost his cause, but he gained a suit.'
'Expound your riddle, sir,' said Cecilia Ossulton.
'The fact is, that old Ponsonby is very anxious that William should marry Miss Percival, whose estates join on to Forest Wild. Now, my friend William is about as fond of marriage as I am of law, and thereby issue was joined.'
'But why were you to be called in?' inquired Mrs. Lascelles.
'Because, madam, as Ponsonby never buys a horse without consulting me——'
'I cannot see the analogy, sir,' observed Miss Ossulton, senior, bridling up.
'Pardon me, madam: the fact is,' continued Seagrove, 'that, as I always have to back Ponsonby's horses, he thought it right that, in this instance, I should back him: he required special pleading, but his uncle tried him for the capital offence, and he was not allowed counsel. As soon as we arrived, and I had bowed myself into the room, Mr. Ponsonby bowed me out again—which would have been infinitely more jarring to my feelings, had not the door been left ajar.'
'Do anything but pun, Seagrove,' interrupted Hautaine.