Crime & punishment > Peveril of the Peak > Volume 2

54
PEVERIL OF THE PEAK.
warrants which I have thought necessary to pre¬
pare in consequence.”
“My signet you shall command with all my
heart, madam,” said Earl Philip; “but spare me
the revision of what you are much more capable
to decide upon. I am, you know, a most com¬
plete Roi faineant, and never once interfered with
my Maire de palais in her proceedings.”
The Countess made signs to her little train-
bearer , who immediately went to seek wax and a
light, with which she presently returned.
In the meanwhile, the Countess continued, ad¬
dressing Peveril. “Philip does himself less than
justice. When you were absent, Julian, (for il you
had been here I would have given you the credit
of prompting your friend,) he had a spirited con¬
troversy with the Bishop, for an attempt to en¬
force spiritual censures against a poor wretch, by
confining her in the vault under the chapel.”
“Do not think better of me than I deserve,’’
said the Earl to Peveril; “my mother has omit¬
ted to tell you the culprit was pretty Peggy of
Ramsay, and her crime what in Cupid’s courts
would have been called a peccadillo.”
“Do not you make yourself worse than you
are,”j replied Peveril, wdio observed the Countess’s
cheek redden,—“you know you would have done
as much for the oldest and poorest cripple in the
island. Why, the vault is under the burial ground
of the chapel, and, for aught I know, under the
ocean itself, such a roaring do the waves make