"I do not go there to-day," answered Lord Glenvarloch. "Which way,
then, my lord?" said the young Templar, who was perhaps not undesirous
to parade a part at least of the street in company with a lord, though
but a Scottish one.
"I--I--" said Nigel, desiring to avail himself of this young man's
local knowledge, yet unwilling and ashamed to acknowledge his
intention to take refuge in so disreputable a quarter, or to describe
the situation in which he stood--"I have some curiosity to see
Whitefriars."
"What! your lordship is for a frolic into Alsatia?" said Lowestoffe-"-
Have with you, my lord--you cannot have a better guide to the infernal
regions than myself. I promise you there are bona-robas to be found
there--good wine too, ay, and good fellows to drink it with, though
somewhat suffering under the frowns of Fortune. But your lordship will
pardon me--you are the last of our acquaintance to whom I would have
proposed such a voyage of discovery."
"I am obliged to you, Master Lowestoffe, for the good opinion you have
expressed in the observation," said Lord Glenvarloch; "but my present
circumstances may render even a residence of a day or two in the
sanctuary a matter of necessity."
"Indeed!" said Lowestoffe, in a tone of great surprise; "I thought
your lordship had always taken care not to risk any considerable
stake--I beg pardon, but if the bones have proved perfidious, I know
just so much law as that a peer's person is sacred from arrest; and
for mere impecuniosity, my lord, better shift can be made elsewhere
than in Whitefriars, where all are devouring each other for very
poverty.
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