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CHAPTER IV.
THE OLD CHAMBER.
The whole ceremony of the investiture of Gwynplaine, from his entry
under the King's Gate to his taking the test under the nave window, was
enacted in a sort of twilight.
Lord William Cowper had not permitted that he, as Lord Chancellor of
England, should receive too many details of circumstances connected with
the disfigurement of the young Lord Fermain Clancharlie, considering it
below his dignity to know that a peer was not handsome; and feeling that
his dignity would suffer if an inferior should venture to intrude on him
information of such a nature. We know that a common fellow will take
pleasure in saying, "That prince is humpbacked;" therefore, it is
abusive to say that a lord is deformed. To the few words dropped on the
subject by the queen the Lord Chancellor had contented himself with
replying, "The face of a peer is in his peerage!"
Ultimately, however, the affidavits he had read and certified
enlightened him. Hence the precautions which he took. The face of the
new lord, on his entrance into the House, might cause some sensation.
This it was necessary to prevent; and the Lord Chancellor took his
measures for the purpose. It is a fixed idea, and a rule of conduct in
grave personages, to allow as little disturbance as possible. Dislike of
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