“There you are wrong, my lord,” replied the king.  “She is now my ward, and I can dispose of her in marriage as I please; nor will I so dispose of her except to her equal in rank.”

“I discern your majesty’s gracious intentions,” replied Rochester, gratefully inclining his head.

“I almost forget my deliverer’s name,” whispered Charles, with a smile, “but it is of no consequence, since he will so speedily change it.”

“His name is Leonard Holt,” replied Rochester, in the same tone.

“Ah!—­true,” returned the king.  “What ho! good Master Leonard Holt,” he added, addressing the young man, “commit the Lady Isabella Argentine to the care of our worthy friend Doctor Hodges for a moment, and stand up before me.”  His injunctions being complied with, he continued, “The Lady Isabella Argentine and I owe our lives to you, and we must both evince our gratitude—­she by devoting that life, which, if I am not misinformed, she will be right willing to do, to you, and I by putting you in a position to unite yourself to her.  The title of Argentine has been this day extinguished by most unhappy circumstances; I therefore confer the title on you, and here in this presence create you Baron Argentine, of Argentine, in Staffordshire.  Your patent shall be made out with all convenient despatch, and with it you shall receive the hand of the sole representative of that ancient and noble house.”

“Your majesty overwhelms me,” replied Leonard, falling on his knee and pressing the king’s hand, which was kindly extended towards him, to his lips.  “I can scarcely persuade myself I am not in a dream.”

“You will soon awaken to the sense of the joyful reality,” returned the king.  “Have I not now discharged my debt?” he added to Rochester.

“Right royally, indeed, my liege,” replied the earl, in a tone of unaffected emotion.  “My lord,” he added, grasping Leonard’s hand, “I sincerely congratulate you on your newly-acquired dignities, nor less in the happiness that awaits you there.”

“If I do not answer you fittingly, my lord,” replied the new-made peer, “it is not because I do not feel your kindness.  But my brain reels.  Pray Heaven my senses may not desert me.”

“You must not forget the document you obtained this morning, my lord,” replied Rochester, endeavouring to divert his thoughts into a new channel.  “The proper moment for consulting it may have arrived.”

Lord Argentine, for we shall henceforth give him his title, thrust his hand into his doublet, and drew forth the parchment.  He opened it, and endeavoured to read it, but a mist swam before his eyes.

“Let me look at it,” said Rochester, taking it from him.  “It is a deed of gift,” he said, after glancing at it for a moment, “from the late Lord Argentine—­I mean the elder baron—­of a large estate in Yorkshire, which he possessed in right of his wife, to you, my lord, here described as Leonard Holt, provided you shall marry the Lady Isabella Argentine.  Another piece of good fortune.  Again and again, I congratulate you.”