“You need not wonder that I freely discover Adrian’s abode.  Do not suppose that I am wicked or foolish enough to found my purposed sovereignty on a fraud, and one so easily discovered as the truth or falsehood of the Earl’s insanity.  I am just come from him.  Before I decided on my marriage with Idris, I resolved to see him myself again, and to judge of the probability of his recovery.—­He is irrecoverably mad.”

I gasped for breath—­

“I will not detail to you,” continued Raymond, “the melancholy particulars.  You shall see him, and judge for yourself; although I fear this visit, useless to him, will be insufferably painful to you.  It has weighed on my spirits ever since.  Excellent and gentle as he is even in the downfall of his reason, I do not worship him as you do, but I would give all my hopes of a crown and my right hand to boot, to see him restored to himself.”

His voice expressed the deepest compassion:  “Thou most unaccountable being,” I cried, “whither will thy actions tend, in all this maze of purpose in which thou seemest lost?”

“Whither indeed?  To a crown, a golden be-gemmed crown, I hope; and yet I dare not trust and though I dream of a crown and wake for one, ever and anon a busy devil whispers to me, that it is but a fool’s cap that I seek, and that were I wise, I should trample on it, and take in its stead, that which is worth all the crowns of the east and presidentships of the west.”

“And what is that?”

“If I do make it my choice, then you shall know; at present I dare not speak, even think of it.”

Again he was silent, and after a pause turned to me laughingly.  When scorn did not inspire his mirth, when it was genuine gaiety that painted his features with a joyous expression, his beauty became super-eminent, divine.  “Verney,” said he, “my first act when I become King of England, will be to unite with the Greeks, take Constantinople, and subdue all Asia.  I intend to be a warrior, a conqueror; Napoleon’s name shall vail to mine; and enthusiasts, instead of visiting his rocky grave, and exalting the merits of the fallen, shall adore my majesty, and magnify my illustrious achievements.”

I listened to Raymond with intense interest.  Could I be other than all ear, to one who seemed to govern the whole earth in his grasping imagination, and who only quailed when he attempted to rule himself.  Then on his word and will depended my own happiness—­the fate of all dear to me.  I endeavoured to divine the concealed meaning of his words.  Perdita’s name was not mentioned; yet I could not doubt that love for her caused the vacillation of purpose that he exhibited.  And who was so worthy of love as my noble-minded sister?  Who deserved the hand of this self-exalted king more than she whose glance belonged to a queen of nations? who loved him, as he did her; notwithstanding that disappointment quelled her passion, and ambition held strong combat with his.