"It means, my lord," said the fat man, "that I am called Barkilphedro;

that I am an officer of the Admiralty; that this waif, the flask of

Hardquanonne, was found on the beach, and was brought to be unsealed by

me, according to the duty and prerogative of my office; that I opened it

in the presence of two sworn jurors of the Jetsam Office, both members

of Parliament, William Brathwait, for the city of Bath, and Thomas

Jervois, for Southampton; that the two jurors deciphered and attested

the contents of the flask, and signed the necessary affidavit conjointly

with me; that I made my report to her Majesty, and by order of the queen

all necessary and legal formalities were carried out with the discretion

necessary in a matter so delicate; that the last form, the

confrontation, has just been carried out; that you have £40,000 a year;

that you are a peer of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, a legislator

and a judge, a supreme judge, a sovereign legislator, dressed in purple

and ermine, equal to princes, like unto emperors; that you have on your

brow the coronet of a peer, and that you are about to wed a duchess, the

daughter of a king."

Under this transfiguration, overwhelming him like a series of

thunderbolts, Gwynplaine fainted.

638

The Man Who Laughs