or an intimation from a sincere friend--"

"But the warning, the warning!" said the Duke, "pray, what was this
warning?"

"It was," replied Wilton, "a warning not to go to a meeting which you
proposed to attend in the course of tomorrow."

"Ha!" said the Duke, with a look of some surprise--"did he say what
meeting?"

"Yes, my lord," replied Wilton--"he said it was a meeting at the old
King's Head in Leadenhall Street, and he added that it would be
dangerous for you to do so."

"I will never shrink from personal danger, Mr. Brown," said the Duke,
holding up his head, and putting on a courageous look. But the moment
after, something seemed to strike him, and he added with a certain
degree of hesitation, "But let me ask you, Mr. Brown, does my lord of
Byerdale know this?--You have not told Lord Sherbrooke?"

"Neither the one nor the other, my lord," replied Wilton--"I have
mentioned the fact to nobody but yourself."

"Pray, then, do not," replied the Duke; "you will oblige me very
much, Mr. Brown, by keeping this business secret. I must certainly
attend the meeting at four to-morrow, because I have pledged my word
to it; but I shall enter into nothing that is dangerous or criminal,
depend upon it--"