LOPvD MERVYN ESCAPES A BROKEN HEAD. 33 



" In which number, I suppose, I must consider myself in- 

 clude. J," exclaimed Sir Lucius Gwynne, his Welsh blood begin- 

 ning to boil up. 



"As you please, sir," was the rejoinder. 



" Then, my Lord Mervyn," said Sir Lucius, rising from his 

 chair, and seizing a decanter, " retract that expression, or I'll 

 throw this bottle at your head." 



" You will % " 



" Yes, sir, I will. You, you upstart spawn of a lawyer's 

 clerk, smuggled into the House of Peers for doing the Govern- 

 ment's dirty work, you call me a ragamuffin ; by Jove ! sir, I'll 

 scatter your foul brains about your shoulders, if you don't beg 

 my pardon this instant." 



Tyler, who was a friend of Lord Mervyn' s, whispered in 

 his ear, " It must be done, Mervyn ; pray apologise, or you 

 must meet him, and he is a dead shot." 



The crest-fallen lord muttered some explanation. 



" That won't do, sir," exclaimed Gwynne ; " speak out, that 

 all may hear." 



" I did not intend to aj)ply the term I used to you, Sir 

 Lucius." 



" Very well, my lord; that saves you from a broken head, or 

 a bullet through your body this time," resuming his seat. 



"'Pon honour, Mervyn," said the Captain, " sorry to trouble 

 you, but his Majesty's commission, Life Guards, and that sort 

 of thing — eh ? you understand, my lord 1 ragamuffins won't 

 do — our fellows won't stomach that title, Mervyn." 



" It was not intended for you, or them, Captain Markham," 

 replied Lord Mervyn. 



" Glad to hear it, my lord." 



" Well," interposed Yernon, " if it affords any real gratifica- 

 tion to Lord Mervyn to know there is one ragamuffin in this 

 room who owns to the title, I confess myself amenable to that 

 soft impeachment ; and as I have the honour of belonging to 

 his lordship's political party, he will do me the favour, I hope, 

 of allowing this motto to be engraved on his banner, at his son's 

 next election, ' Mervyn and his ragamuffins for ever ! " 



" Hah, hah ! Yernon ! demmed good ! Egad, old fellow, 

 your wit cuts a deuced deal sharper than a small sword." 



" And now," said Yernon, " as my Lord Mervyn has been 

 favoured with divers opinions, pray may I ask what our worthy 

 Master of the Hounds has to say on the subject 1 " 



" Nothing, sir," replied Beauchamp ; " too much has been 



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