“Not a second, my Lord; I dare not. The fact is, I have strenuously avoided this subject; an old friend of mine, Bagenal Daly, has wearied me of it,--he is an Anti-Unionist, but on grounds I scarcely concur in. Your Lordship's defence of the measure I also demur to. I am like poor old Murray, the Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, who, when called on for his opinion in a case where Judge Wallace was in favor of a rule, and Judge Mayne against it, he said, 'I agree with my brother Mayne for the cogent reasons laid down by my brother Wallace.'” “So,” said the Secretary, laughing heartily, “I have convinced you against myself.” “Exactly, my Lord. I came here this evening intending not to vote on the Bill,--indeed, I accepted your Lordship's hospitality without a thought upon a party question; I am equally certain you will acquit me of being a spy in the camp. To-morrow I intend to vote against you.” “I wish I could have the same esteem for my friends that I now pledge for my--” “Don't say 'enemy,' my Lord; we both aspire to the same end,--our country's good. If we take different roads, it is because each thinks his own path the shortest. Good night.” Lord Castlereagh accompanied the Knight to his carriage, and again shook his hand cordially as they parted. CHAPTER XIX. A DAY OF EXCITEMENT Great was the Knight's astonishment, and not less his satisfaction, as he entered the breakfast-room the morning after his dinner with the Secretary, to find Bagenal Daly there before him. They met with all the cordial warmth of men whose friendship had continued without interruption for nigh half a century; each well disposed to prize good faith and integrity at a time when so many lapsed from the path of honor and principle. “Well, Darcy,” cried Daly, the first greetings over, “there is little hope left us; that rascally newspaper already proclaims the triumph,--a majority of twenty-eight.” “They calculate on many more; you remember what old Hayes, of the Recruiting Staff, used to say: 'There was no getting fellows to enlist when the bounty was high; make it half-a-crown,' said he, 'and I 'll raise a battalion in a fortnight.'” “Is Castlereagh adopting the policy?” “Yes, and with infinite success! Some that held out for English Peerages are fain to take Irish Baronetcies, expectant Bishops put up with Deaneries, and an acquaintance of ours, that would take nothing below a separate command, is now satisfied to make his son a clerk in the War Office.” “I 'm sorry for it,” said Daly, as he arose and paced the room backwards and forwards, “sincerely sorry. I had fostered the hope that if they succeeded in corrupting _our_ gentry, they had polluted _their own_ Peerage. I wish every fellow had been bought by an Earldom at least. I would like to think that this Judas Peerage might become a jest and a scoff among their order.”