Sir David Bruce, punctual to the hospitable summons, was the first guest to arrive in due time at the Maison de Tyrconnel. As he entered the drawing-room—"The knight of Chester walls, le chevalier inconnu," was inadvertently vociferated by the duchess, accompanied by the all wondering chorus of all that were present—"It is astonishing——indeed it is most astonishing!"
"Amazing, and quite surpassingly strange!" exclaimed Sir Patricius Placebo, aided with one or two plentiful accompaniments of his accustomed recipe from his magnificent Carolus snuff-box, which we often noticed before.
"DOSS MOI, TANE STIGMEN!
A hem!—Indeed quite astonishing!—most surpassingly strange!"
Most true it is that Sir David Bruce was the unknown stranger who encountered the Duchess of Tyrconnel and family while promenading the walls of Chester; and he it was who so generously and disinterestedly had relinquished the packet-boat which had conveyed them to Calais.
The duke said, introducing Sir David Bruce to his duchess, "permit me, my dear, to present to you and the circle of my family, the noble gentleman who now stands before you, Sir David Bruce of Turnberry Castle in Ayrshire, to whose noble courage and generosity of heart I am indebted for my life in the fatal battle of the Boyne, for such I must ever consider it. Greet, then, I beseech you, and welcome him! in him you behold the gallant preserver of my life, and him I hold and shall reverence as my sincere friend so long as I shall exist!"
"My Lord Duke, I shall most faithfully obey your injunctions," added the duchess; "but there I must not pause—there remains yet another account of gratitude beside.—For exclusive of being the protector, my Lord, of your life, to which, in the first instance, we all owe and duly feel the deepest gratitude, yet still another debt of obligation remains to be discharged—I speak of the truly generous relinquishment of the packet which had been engaged by Sir David Bruce to convey him to Calais, and which he so nobly and generously relinquished to us! This can never be forgotten, at least by us, although it possibly may not be so accounted by Sir David Bruce."
"I really can see no very great merit, my Lady Duchess, in all this; I conceive I only did what I ought to do, and that any one would have done for ladies placed under similar embarrassments as you all were circumstanced. Permit me to inquire how your Grace likes Brussels?"
"Why, well, Sir David, passing well, it is sometimes just a little tristé, and the atmosphere, to be sure, is somewhat humid, but——"
"And yet," said Lady Aylesbury, (who had just then arrived,) with a malicious smile, rudely interrupting her; "and yet, Madam, it has, methinks, proved a very convenient sejour for some gens de condition, who have for some years availed themselves of the privilege, when it would not have proved altogether so prudent——yes, Madam; altogether so prudent, to have ventured elsewhere!"