Page:Paul Clifford Vol 3.djvu/271

Rh did youthful gallant about to repair to the trysting spot, in which fair looks make the greatest of earthly advantages, gaze more anxiously on the impartial glass, than now did the ascetic and scornful Judge; and never, we ween, did the eye of the said gallant retire with a more satisfied and triumphant expression.

"Yes, yes!" muttered the Judge, "no sign of infirmity is yet written here: the blood flows clear and warm enough, the cheek looks firm too, and passing full, for one who was always of the lean kind. Aha! this letter is a cordial, an elixir vitæ. I feel as if a new lease were granted to the reluctant tenant. Lord Warlock,—the first Baron of Warlock,—Chancellor of the Exchequer. Why not the woolsack?"

As he spoke, he strode unconsciously away; folding his arms with that sort of joyous and complacent gesture, which implies the idea of a man hugging himself in a silent delight. Assuredly, had the most skilful physician then looked upon the ardent and all-lighted face, the firm step, the elastic and muscular frame, the vigorous air of