The statesman nodded.  Then,

     ’Dissimulare etiam sperasti, perfide tantum
     Posse nefas, tacitusque meam subducere terram?’

he muttered in low yet sonorous tones.

Mr. Fishwick stared.  ‘I beg your lordship’s pardon,’ he said.  ’I do not quite understand.’

‘There is no need.  And that is the whole truth, sir, is it?’

‘Yes, my lord, it is.’

‘Very good.  Very good,’ Lord Chatham replied, pushing away the papers which the attorney in the heat of his argument had thrust before him.  ’Then there is an end of the matter as far as the trustees are concerned.  Sir George, you have nothing to say, I take it?’

‘No, I thank you, my lord—­nothing here,’ Soane answered vaguely.  His face continued to wear the dark flush which had overspread it a few minutes before.  ’This, I need not say, is an absolute surprise to me,’ he added.

‘Just so.  It is an extraordinary story.  Well, good-morning, sir,’ his lordship continued, addressing the attorney.  ’I believe you have done your duty.  I believe you have behaved very honestly.  You will hear from me.’

Mr. Fishwick knew that he was dismissed, but after a glance aside, which showed him Sir George standing in a brown study, he lingered.  ’If your lordship,’ he said desperately, ’could see your way to do anything—­for my client?’

‘For your client?  Why?’ the Earl cried, with a sudden return of his gouty peevishness.  ‘Why, sir—­why?’

‘She has been drawn,’ the lawyer muttered ’out of the position in which she lived, by an error, not her own, my lord.’

‘Yours!’

‘Yes, my lord.’

‘And why drawn?’ the Earl continued regarding him severely.  ’I will tell you, sir.  Because you were not content to await the result of investigation, but must needs thrust yourself in the public eye!  You must needs assume a position before it was granted!  No, sir, I allow you honest; I allow you to be well-meaning; but your conduct has been indiscreet, and your client must pay for it.  Moreover, I am in the position of a trustee, and can do nothing.  You may go, sir.’

After that Mr. Fishwick had no choice but to withdraw.  He did so; and a moment later Sir George, after paying his respects, followed him.  Dr. Addington was clear-sighted enough to fear that his friend had gone after the lawyer, and, as soon as he decently could, he went himself in pursuit.  He was relieved to find Sir George alone, pacing the floor of the room they shared.

The physician took care to hide his real motive and his distrust of Soane’s discretion under a show of heartiness.  ’My dear Sir George, I congratulate you!’ he cried, shaking the other effusively by the hand.  ’Believe me, ’tis by far the completest way out of the difficulty; and though I am sorry for the—­for the young lady, who seems to have behaved very honestly—­well, time brings its repentances as well as its revenges.  It is possible the match would have done tolerably well, assuming you to be equal in birth and fortune.  But even then ’twas a risk; ‘twas a risk, my dear sir!  And now—­’