"Body o' me," said Grasp, "why, I concluded you had heard, or I had communicated it immediately I saw you! Know you not the Earl of Westmoreland is dead!"
"Nay, is this true?" said Neville, starting.
"True as that your honour is his next heir," said Grasp.
"And where died he?" inquired the visitor.
"In Italy, where he hath been long in exile, as thou know'st."
"Ah!" said Neville, "this is somewhat unlucky!"
"Unlucky?" said Grasp. "Heard ye ever the like o' that! What can be unlucky that bodes your honour so much good? You are in fact and in right, de facto et de jure, next heir to the earldom of Westmoreland."
"Would that I had known of this but yesterday!" said Neville, abstractedly; "'twould have spared me from participating in this last business."
"Did your honour observe anything?" said Grasp, staring at his visitor, who seemed wrapped in the thought and cogitations consequent upon the news he had just heard.
"'Tis no matter," he muttered at length to himself, "I will betray them all. Harkee, good Grasp," he continued, after a considerable pause, "'tis quite true, that which thou say'st. I am next heir to the title and estate of Westmoreland. But it follows not, therefore, that I shall succeed to them, as I am in disgrace and under suspicion. Could I indeed do some acceptable service to the Queen, I might recover those estates and honours forfeited by the rebellion of the earl just now deceased."