As his bearers swung briskly along, Mr.Caryll sat back and gave himself up to thought.
Lord Ostermore interested him vastly.

For a moment that day the earl had aroused his anger, as you may have judged from the sudden resolve upon which he had acted when he delivered him that letter, thus embarking at the eleventh hour upon a task which he had already determined to abandon.

He knew not now whether to rejoice or deplore that he had acted upon that angry impulse.

He knew not, indeed, whether to pity or despise this man who was swayed by no such high motives as must have affected most of those who were faithful to the exiled James.

Those motives--motives of chivalry and romanticism in most cases--Lord Ostermore would have despised if he could have understood them; for he was a man of the type that despises all things that are not essentially practical, whose results are not immediately obvious.