He dared to claim the countenance of the Commander-in-chief of the Army of India for an act disapproved by the India House.

Other letters might be on their way, curryer than the preceding, his friends feared; and might also be malevolently printed, similarly commissioning the reverberation of them to belabour his name before the public.

Admirers were still prepared to admire; but aldermen not at the feast, squire-archs not in the saddle or at the bottle, some few of the juvenile and female fervent, were becoming susceptible to a frosty critical tone in the public pronunciation of Lord Ormont's name since the printing of his letter and the letters it called forth.

None of them doubted that his case was good.

The doubt concerned the effect on it of his manner of pleading it.