III.
The opportunity occurred.
One day it was announced that several things had happened to the oldexile, Lord Clancharlie, the most important of which was that he wasdead. Death does just this much good to folks: it causes a little talkabout them. People related what they knew, or what they thought theyknew, of the last years of Lord Linnaeus. What they said was probablylegend and conjecture. If these random tales were to be credited, LordClancharlie must have had his republicanism intensified towards the endof his life, to the extent of marrying (strange obstinacy of the exile!)Ann Bradshaw, the daughter of a regicide; they were precise about thename. She had also died, it was said, but in giving birth to a boy. Ifthese details should prove to be correct, his child would of course bethe legitimate and rightful heir of Lord Clancharlie. These reports,however, were extremely vague in form, and were rumours rather thanfacts. Circumstances which happened in Switzerland, in those days, wereas remote from the England of that period as those which take place inChina from the England of to-day. Lord Clancharlie must have beenfifty-nine at the time of his marriage, they said, and sixty at thebirth of his son, and must have died shortly after, leaving his infantorphaned both of father and mother. This was possible, perhaps, butimprobable. They added that the child was beautiful as the day,--just aswe read in all the fairy tales. King James put an end to these rumours,evidently without foundation, by declaring, one fine morning, Lord DavidDirry-Moir sole and positive heir _in default of legitimate issue_, andby his royal pleasure, of Lord Linnaeus Clancharlie, his natural father,_the absence of all other issue and descent being established_, patentsof which grant were registered in the House of Lords. By these patentsthe king instituted Lord David Dirry-Moir in the titles, rights, andprerogatives of the late Lord Linnaeus Clancharlie, on the solecondition that Lord David should wed, when she attained a marriageableage, a girl who was, at that time, a mere infant a few months old, andwhom the king had, in her cradle, created a duchess, no one knew exactlywhy; or, rather, every one knew why. This little infant was called theDuchess Josiana.
The English fashion then ran on Spanish names. One of Charles II.'sbastards was called Carlos, Earl of Plymouth. It is likely that Josianawas a contraction for Josefa-y-Ana. Josiana, however, may have been aname--the feminine of Josias. One of Henry VIII.'s gentlemen was calledJosias du Passage.
It was to this little duchess that the king granted the peerage ofClancharlie. She was a peeress till there should be a peer; the peershould be her husband. The peerage was founded on a double castleward,the barony of Clancharlie and the barony of Hunkerville; besides, thebarons of Clancharlie were, in recompense of an ancient feat of arms,and by royal licence, Marquises of Corleone, in Sicily.
Peers of England cannot bear foreign titles; there are, nevertheless,exceptions; thus--Henry Arundel, Baron Arundel of Wardour, was, as wellas Lord Clifford, a Count of the Holy Roman Empire, of which Lord Cowperis a prince. The Duke of Hamilton is Duke of Chatelherault, in France;Basil Fielding, Earl of Denbigh, is Count of Hapsburg, of Lauffenberg,and of Rheinfelden, in Germany. The Duke of Marlborough was Prince ofMindelheim, in Suabia, just as the Duke of Wellington was Prince ofWaterloo, in Belgium. The same Lord Wellington was a Spanish Duke ofCiudad Rodrigo, and Portuguese Count of Vimiera.
There were in England, and there are still, lands both noble and common.The lands of the Lords of Clancharlie were all noble. These lands,burghs, bailiwicks, fiefs, rents, freeholds, and domains, adherent tothe peerage of Clancharlie-Hunkerville, belonged provisionally to LadyJosiana, and the king declared that, once married to Josiana, Lord DavidDirry-Moir should be Baron Clancharlie.
Besides the Clancharlie inheritance, Lady Josiana had her own fortune.She possessed great wealth, much of which was derived from the gifts of_Madame sans queue_ to the Duke of York. _Madame sans queue_ is shortfor Madame. Henrietta of England, Duchess of Orleans, the lady ofhighest rank in France after the queen, was thus called.