Captain Baskelett followed him, bowing stiffly.

‘I am,’ he said, ’Captain Beauchamp’s cousin.  I am Captain Baskelett, one of the Members for the borough.’

The doctor said, ‘Ah.’

‘I wish to see Captain Beauchamp, sir.  He is absent?’

‘I shall have him here shortly, sir.’

‘Oh, you will have him!’ Cecil paused.

‘Admirable roses!’ exclaimed Lord Palmet.

‘You have him, I think,’ said Cecil, ’if what we hear is correct.  I wish to know, sir, whether the case you are conducting against his uncle is one you have communicated to Captain Beauchamp.  I repeat, I am here to inquire if he is privy to it.  You may hold family ties in contempt—­Now, sir!  I request you abstain from provocations with me.’

Dr. Shrapnel had raised his head, with something of the rush of a rocket, from the stooping posture to listen, and his frown of non-intelligence might be interpreted as the coming on of the fury Radicals are prone to, by a gentleman who believed in their constant disposition to explode.

Cecil made play with a pacifying hand.  ’We shall arrive at no understanding unless you are good enough to be perfectly calm.  I repeat, my cousin Captain Beauchamp is more or less at variance with his family, owing to these doctrines of yours, and your extraordinary Michael-Scott-the-wizard kind of spell you seem to have cast upon his common sense as a man of the world.  You have him, as you say.  I do not dispute it.  I have no, doubt you have him fast.  But here is a case demanding a certain respect for decency.  Pray, if I may ask you, be still, be quiet, and hear me out if you can.  I am accustomed to explain myself to the comprehension of most men who are at large, and I tell you candidly I am not to be deceived or diverted from my path by a show of ignorance.’

‘What is your immediate object, sir?’ said Dr. Shrapnel, chagrined by the mystification within him, and a fear that his patience was going.

‘Exactly,’ Cecil nodded.  He was acute enough to see that he had established the happy commencement of fretfulness in the victim, which is equivalent to a hook well struck in the mouth of your fish, and with an angler’s joy he prepared to play his man.  ’Exactly.  I have stated it.  And you ask me.  But I really must decline to run over the whole ground again for you.  I am here to fulfil a duty to my family; a highly disagreeable one to me.  I may fail, like the lady who came here previous to the Election, for the result of which I am assured I ought to thank your eminently disinterested services.  I do.  You recollect a lady calling on you?’

Dr. Shrapnel consulted his memory.  ’I think I have a recollection of some lady calling.’

‘Oh! you think you have a recollection of some lady calling.’

‘Do you mean a lady connected with Captain Beauchamp?’

’A lady connected with Captain Beauchamp.  You are not aware of the situation of the lady?’