At forty-five he marries the daughter of a powerful Peer, and, shortly
afterwards, insures so much of the favour of Royalty as to be spoken
of as a _persona grata_ at Court. Henceforward his services are often
employed in delicate negotiations, which may necessitate the climbing
of many back-stairs. On such occasions, and after it has been
announced in the papers that "Mr. So-and-so was the bearer of an
important communication" from one great person to another, it is his
custom to show himself in his Clubs and in crowded haunts, so that he
may enjoy the pleasure of being pointed out, _digita prætereuntium_,
and of catching the whispers of those who nudge one another as they
mention his name.

Finally, it will be rumoured that he has been collecting materials for
the Memoirs which he proposes shortly to publish. But though he never
disclaims the intention, and is even understood, on more than one
occasion, to allude in conversation to the precise period of his life
to which his writing has then brought him, it is quite certain that
he will never carry out the intention, or bring out the book. At
the age of sixty he will still be a young man, with a gay style of
banter peculiarly his own. Towards the end of his life he will often
talk darkly of great events in which he has played a part, and of
extraordinary services which only he could have performed; and when he
dies, the country will be called upon to mourn for one who has saved
it from social degradation, and from political disaster.

* * * * *

A PIG IN A POKE.