BOB CONYERS ORATION 233 



"Did you notice Miss Douglas's behaviour, whilst dancing 

 with Lord Yancourt ? " 



"Particularly; well knowing her dislike to the man, and- 

 the imploring look she cast on me, when he came to claim her 

 hand for the dance, determined me to take my position close to 

 her, whilst dancing with his lordship." 



" Thank you, Mr. Conyers ; " and as Whalley sat down, up 

 rose the Serjeant instantly. 



"You say, Mr. Conyers, you warned Miss Douglas of the 

 plot contrived against her, and of Lord Yancourt' s character, 

 two days before she went to stay at the castle 1 I should have 

 thought, sir, the first person you ought to have made acquainted 

 with this pretended plot was Mr. Harcourt, the young lady's 

 guardian % " 



"I thought differently, Mr. Serjeant Wrangler; but I 

 directly informed Mrs. Gordon, her other guardian, of all I 

 had heard, to whose discretion I could more safely confide this 

 matter ; and from what occurred subsequently, I am quite 

 satisfied that she was the most proper person to be consulted." 



" You had good reasons, no doubt, sir, for trying to prevent 

 Miss Douglas marrying Lord Yancourt ? you have heard of a 

 friend in need being a friend indeed, and Mr. William Beau- 

 champ is, I am told, a very particular friend of yours ?" 



" Mr. Beauchamp is, sir, I am proud to say, a very particular 

 friend of mine ; a man of high principles, honourable feelings, 

 and sound, good sense — the latter much needed by Mr. Serjeant 

 Wrangler ; for how a learned barrister could have laboured, as 

 you have done this day, to prove an absurdity, patent to the 

 commonest understanding, 1 cannot comprehend ; you are 

 striving to prove the consent of Miss Douglas to elope with 

 Lord Yancourt. Now, sir, giving you the admission you try 

 in vain to obtain, that she was a silly girl, caught at first sight 

 by the handsome person of this man, and despising all the 

 warnings she had received of his true character, want of for- 

 tune, and lastly, of his actually being a married man ; why, 

 what on earth should induce her to elope with him — her 

 guardian consenting to his proposals % for Mr. and Mrs. Har- 

 court, blind to the revelations made to them, persisted to the 

 last in taking his lordship's part, and the lady almost insisted 

 on her niece marrying .him. With these facts clear before you, 

 how can you hope to persuade a child of ten years old, much 

 less twelve men of common sense, that there existed any pre- 

 tence whatever for Miss Douglas consenting to run away with 



