advancement which has so unexpectedly opened to you.

Wilf. Unexpectedly indeed! But yesterday arrived the news that the
Earl's only son and heir had died; and to-day has the Earl himself
been seized with a mortal illness. His dissolution is looked for
hourly; and I, his cousin in only the third degree, known to him but
to be unnoticed by him--a decayed gentleman's son--glad of the title
and revenues of a scrivener's clerk--am the undoubted successor to
his estates and coronet.

Gay. Have you been sent for?

Wilf. No; but I have certified to his agent, Master Walter, the
Hunchback, my existence, and peculiar propinquity; and momentarily
expect him here.

Gay. Lives there anyone that may dispute your claim--I mean
vexatiously?

Wilf. Not a man, Master Gaylove. I am the sole remaining branch of
the family tree.

Gay. Doubtless you look for much happiness from this change of
fortune?

Wilf. A world! Three things have I an especial passion for. The
finest hound, the finest horse, and the finest wife in the kingdom,
Master Gaylove!

Gay. The finest wife?