For some hours past the adventures of Gwynplaine had been the subject of

conversation. A secret is a net; let one mesh drop, and the whole goes

to pieces. In the morning, in consequence of the incidents related

above, the whole story of a peer found on the stage, and of a mountebank

become a lord, had burst forth at Windsor in Royal places. The princes

had talked about it, and then the lackeys. From the Court the news soon

reached the town. Events have a weight, and the mathematical rule of

velocity, increasing in proportion to the squares of the distance,

applies to them. They fall upon the public, and work themselves through

it with the most astounding rapidity. At seven o'clock no one in London

had caught wind of the story; by eight Gwynplaine was the talk of the

town. Only the lords who had been so punctual that they were present

before the assembling of the House were ignorant of the circumstances,

not having been in the town when the matter was talked of by every one,

and having been in the House, where nothing had been perceived. Seated

quietly on their benches, they were addressed by the eager newcomers.

Well!" said Francis Brown, Viscount Montacute, to the Marquis of

Dorchester.

What?"

Is it possible?"

What?"

822

The Man Who Laughs