"Indeed! Pray accept my condolences. And now, tell me what brings you here."
"Your lordship may remember, after the scene with the highwaymen——"
"Yes, yes; you did me a service, you and your man; what then?"
"It was but a slight service, my lord; I do not presume on it; but you were so good as to say that if, at some future time, I should find myself in need of assistance, I was to come to your lordship."
"Why, I did speak of a country parsonage, I believe. But you,"—he smiled—"why, I really may not venture to set you up in a cure of souls. You have to take your degrees yet."
"That is impossible, my lord. My father impoverished himself in his feuds with Mr. Berkeley; when his affairs were settled I found myself possessed of but a poor twenty guineas. I have given up all thought of going to Oxford; I must seek a livelihood."
"H'm!"
Lord Godolphin looked him up and down, as though estimating his chances of making his way in the world.
"You wear a sword," he said. "Rochester—you are no connection of the earl's?—no, of course not, he is a Wilmot. Where do you spring from?"
"My grandfather was a soldier, my lord; I have heard that he died young, but my father seldom spoke of these matters; we have no relatives."