CHAPTER II.

THE WAIF KNOWS ITS OWN COURSE.

All this had occurred owing to the circumstance of a soldier having

found a bottle on the beach. We will relate the facts. In all facts

there are wheels within wheels.

One day one of the four gunners composing the garrison of Castle Calshor

picked up on the sand at low water a flask covered with wicker, which

had been cast up by the tide. This flask, covered with mould, was corked

by a tarred bung. The soldier carried the waif to the colonel of the

castle, and the colonel sent it to the High Admiral of England. The

Admiral meant the Admiralty; with waifs, the Admiralty meant

Barkilphedro.

Barkilphedro, having uncorked and emptied the bottle, carried it to the

queen. The queen immediately took the matter into consideration.

Two weighty counsellors were instructed and consulted--namely, the Lord

Chancellor, who is by law the guardian of the king's conscience; and the

Lord Marshal, who is referee in Heraldry and in the pedigrees of the

nobility. Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk, a Catholic peer, who is

hereditary Earl Marshal of England, had sent word by his deputy Earl

Marshal, Henry Howard, Earl Bindon, that he would agree with the Lord

639

The Man Who Laughs