For, argued the commissioner, though M. de Tourville might not be an
accredited charge d'affaires, yet, since he was a person in some degree in
an official capacity, and intrusted with secret negotiations, government
might have wished to know something about him. "And at all events," added
the commissioner, with a shrewd smile, "it would have been a fine way of
paying our court to a certain great man."

"So, commissioner, you still put your trust in great men?" said Mr. Percy.

"Not in all great men, but in some," replied the commissioner; "for
instance, in your old friend, Lord Oldborough, who, I'm happy to inform
you, is just come into our neighbourhood to Clermont-park, of which he
has at last completed the purchase, and has sent down his plate and
pictures.--Who knows but he may make Clermont-park his summer residence,
instead of his place in Essex? and if he should, there's no saying of what
advantage it might be, for I have it from the very best authority, that
his lordship's influence in _a certain quarter_ is greater than ever. Of
course, Mr. Percy, you will wait upon Lord Oldborough, when he comes to
this part of the country?"

"No, I believe not," said Mr. Percy: "I have no connexion with him now."

"But you were so intimate with him abroad," expostulated Mr. Falconer.

"It is five-and-twenty years since I knew him abroad," said Mr. Percy; "and
from all I have heard, he is an altered man. When I was intimate with Lord
Oldborough, he was a generous, open-hearted youth: he has since become a
politician, and I fear he has sold himself for a riband to the demon of
ambition."