The plan of Pendennyss was put in execution.  Day after day he lingered in Northamptonshire, until his principles and character had grown upon the esteem of the Moseleys in the manner we have mentioned.

His frequent embarrassments were from the dread and shame of a detection.  With Sir Herbert Nicholson he had a narrow escape, and Mrs. Fitzgerald and Lord Henry Stapleton he of course avoided; for having gone so far, he was determined to persevere to the end.  Egerton he thought knew him, and he disliked his character and manners.

When Chatterton appeared most attentive to Emily, the candor and good opinion of that young nobleman made the earl acquainted with his wishes and his situation.  Pendennyss was too generous not to meet his rival on fair grounds.  His cousin and the duke were requested to use their united influence secretly to obtain the desired station for the baron.  The result is known, and Pendennyss trusted his secret to Chatterton; he took him to London, gave him in charge to Derwent, and returned to prosecute his own suit.  His note from Bolton Castle was a ruse to conceal his character, as he knew the departure of the baronet’s family to an hour, and had so timed his visit to the earl as not to come in collision with the Moseleys.

“Indeed, my lord,” cried the doctor to him one day, “your scheme goes on swimmingly, and I am only afraid when your mistress discovers the imposition, you will find your rank producing a different effect from what you have apprehended.”

Chapter XLVI.

But Dr. Ives was mistaken.  Had he seen the sparkling eyes and glowing cheeks of Miss Moseley, the smile of satisfaction and happiness which played on the usually thoughtful face of Mrs. Wilson, when the earl handed them into his own carriage, as they left his house on the evening of the discovery, the doctor would have gladly acknowledged the failure of his prognostics.  In truth, there was no possible event that, under the circumstances, could have given both aunt and niece such heartfelt pleasure, as the knowledge that Denbigh and the earl were the same person.

Pendennyss stood holding the door of the carriage in his hand, irresolute how to act, when Mrs. Wilson said—­

“Surely, my lord, you sup with us.”

“A thousand thanks, my dear madam, for the privilege,” cried the earl, as he sprang into the coach; the door was closed, and they drove off.

“After the explanations of this morning, my lord,” said Mrs. Wilson, willing to remove all doubts between him and Emily, and perhaps anxious to satisfy her own curiosity, “it will be fastidious to conceal our desire to know more of your movements.  How came your pocket-book in the possession of Mrs. Fitzgerald?”

“Mrs. Fitzgerald!” cried Pendennyss, in astonishment “I lost the book in one of the rooms of the Lodge, and supposed it had fallen into your hands, and betrayed my disguise by Emily’s rejection of me, and your own altered eye.  Was I mistaken then in both?”