He was received with obsequious respect by the servants and ushered up the stairs to the private office. Mr. Secretary Vernon had entertained friends at supper and was playing shovel-board with his guests at the time. He came in, therefore, in a genial mood, to urge Lord Spencer to join them. He had every reason to propitiate the young Whig, to soothe and flatter a man who had already gained some weight in Parliament. But Lord Spencer cut short his civilities.
“I come on pressing business, Mr. Secretary,” he said gravely, with a dejected air; “a young girl’s folly can, perhaps, be excused, yet ’tis hard to tell you that my sister—from compassion—has received a traitor into my father’s house;” he paused, looking solemnly at the secretary.
Vernon pricked up his ears. The assassination plot of Barclay and Bernardi and the little band of conspirators which had thought to cut off King William, was not yet old enough to have lost its terrors, and the Blue Posts Tavern was known to swarm with Jacobites, made bold—as most Whigs believed—by William’s lenity.
“Your lordship distresses me,” he said politely, as Spencer seemed to wait for him; “may I hear more?”
“You know the story,” his lordship said regretfully, “the foolish marriage between my sister and the Earl of Clancarty?”
Vernon nodded, a sudden change coming over his face.
“Clancarty is in London,” said Spencer, “and my sister has received him. You can picture my despair at such folly! Mr. Secretary, I must have a warrant, at once, and a guard to send the villain to the Tower.”
Secretary Vernon shot a look at him that a wiser man would have called disdainful, but Spencer was too self-absorbed to see it.
“I remember that Clancarty is excepted from the king’s amnesty,” said the secretary thoughtfully, “he falls under the penalties of the last Treason Act—but your sister—can’t we manage this more adroitly, my lord?”
Lord Spencer looked at him with sternly virtuous anger. “Sir,” he replied, “I put my duty before all else—I desire his immediate arrest. Delay may mean his ultimate escape.”