Kingsborough a different escape was reserved. Before he could be
brought to trial at Cork, his father, the Earl of Kingston, died, and
the Viscount became an Earl, with all the privileges of his
rank--including that of trial by his Peers.

In May 1798, a month after his son's acquittal, Lord Kingston's trial
took place in the House of Lords, with all the state and ceremony
appropriate to this exalted tribunal. Preceded by the Masters in
Chancery, the judges in scarlet and ermine, by the minor lords and a
small army of eldest sons, the Peers filed in long and stately
procession into the House, followed by the Lord High Steward, the Earl
of Clare, walking alone in solitary dignity.

Then began the trial, with all its quaint and dignified ceremonial; and
Robert, Earl of Kingston, pleaded "Not Guilty," and claimed to be tried
"by God and my Peers." But the trial, which drew thousands to
Westminster, was of short duration. To the demand that "all manner of
persons who will give evidence against the accused should come forth,"
no response was given. Not a solitary witness for the Crown appeared.
One by one the Peers pronounced their verdict, "Not Guilty, upon my
honour"; the Lord Steward broke his white staff; and amid a crowd of
congratulating friends, the Earl walked out a free man.

And what was the fate of Mary King, the cause, however innocent, of all
this tragedy? For her own sake, and for obvious reasons, it was
important that she should disappear for a time until the scandal had
subsided; and with this object she was sent, under an assumed name, to
join the family of a Welsh clergyman, not one of whom knew anything of
her story. Here, secluded from the world, and in a happy environment,
she soon recovered her old health and gaiety. She was young; and youth