Victor Hugo - The Man Who Laughs - Cosmopolitan University 2

efore 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?"
"The Laughing Man!"
"Who is the Laughing Man?"
"Don't you know the Laughing Man?"
"No."
"He is a clown, a fellow performing at fairs. He has an extraordinary
face, which people gave a penny to look at. A mountebank."
"Well, what then?"
"You have just installed him as a peer of England."
"You are the laughing man, my Lord Montacute!"
"I am not laughing, my Lord Dorchester."
Lord Montacute made a sign to the Clerk of the Parliament, who rose from
his woolsack, and confirmed to their lordships the fact of the admission
of the new peer. Besides, he detailed the circumstances.
"How wonderful!" said Lord Dorchester. "I was talking to the Bishop of
Ely all the while."
The young Earl of Annesley addressed old Lord Eure, who had but two
years more to live, as he died in 1707.
"My Lord Eure."
"My Lord Annesley."
"Did you know Lord Linnæus Clancharlie?"
"A man of bygone days. Yes I did."
"He died in Switzerland?"
"Yes; we were relations."
"He was a republican under Cromwell, and remained a republican under
Charles II.?"