hideous, screeching, greedy old woman; some trivial payment--as to which Mr. Flick was heartily ashamed of himself--was made to the old priest; and then Mr. Flick hurried home, fully convinced that a compromise should be made as to the money, and that the legality of the titles claimed by the two English ladies should be allowed. It might be that that hideous hag had once been the Countess Lovel. It certainly was the case that the old Earl in latter years had so called her, though he had never once seen her during his last residence in Sicily. It might be that the clumsy fiction of the letters had been perpetrated with the view of bolstering up a true case with false evidence. But Mr. Flick thought that there should be a compromise, and expressed his opinion very plainly to Sir William Patterson. "You mean a marriage," said the Solicitor-General. At this time Mr. Hardy, Q.C., the second counsel acting on behalf of the Earl, was also present. "Not necessarily by a marriage, Sir William. They could divide the money." "The girl is not of age," said Mr. Hardy. "She is barely twenty as yet," said Sir William. "I think it might be managed on her behalf," said the attorney. "Who could be empowered to sacrifice her rights?" said Mr. Hardy, who was a gruff man. "We might perhaps contrive to tide it over till she is of age," said the Solicitor-General, who was a sweet-mannered, mild man among his friends, though he could cross-examine a witness off his legs,--or hers, if the necessity of the case required him to do so. "Of course we could do that, Sir William. What is a year in such a case as this?" "Not much among lawyers, is it, Mr. Flick? You think that we shouldn't bring our case into court." "It is a good case, Sir William, no doubt. There's the woman,--Countess, we will call her,--ready to swear, and has sworn, that she was the old Earl's wife. All the people round call her the Countess. The Earl undoubtedly used to speak of her as the Countess, and send her little dribbles of money, as being his Countess, during the ten years and more after he left Lovel Grange. There is the old priest who married them." "The devil's in it if that is not a good case," said Mr. Hardy. "Go on, Mr. Flick," said the Solicitor-General. "I've got all the documentary evidence of course, Sir William." "Go on, Mr. Flick." Mr. Flick scratched his head. "It's a very heavy interest, Sir William." "No doubt it is. Go on." "I don't know that I've anything further to say, except that I'd arrange it if I could. Our client, Sir William, would be in a very pretty position if he got half the income which is at stake." "Or the whole with the wife," said the Solicitor-General. "Or the whole with the wife, Sir William. If he were to lose it all, he'd be,--so to say, nowhere." "Nowhere at all," said the Solicitor-General. "The entailed property isn't worth above a thousand a year."