"Which proves his lack of a coronet. It is not likely that he would conceal from his wife the fact that he was heir to a peerage."
"He doubtless had his reasons. Having perhaps quarrelled with his family he may have left England forever, determined to begin life anew in another land, and to hide his identity under an assumed name. An imperial archduke of Austria has done the like in our time, and so successfully, too, as to baffle all endeavours to trace him."
"And, pray, to what peerage did this Marville lay claim?"
"I do not know."
"Dormant, or in esse?"
"I do not know."
"What was its rank? A baronage: a viscountship: a——"
"I do not know."
Ivar seemed rather pleased than otherwise with Lorelie's want of knowledge.
"Where, when, and under what circumstances, then, did Eric Marville claim to be a peer?"