ard. Clanking and purring like an enormous
cat, he turned his head away to the window when De la Foret dropped on
his knees and kissed the hand of the Comtesse, whose eyes were full of
tears. Clanking and gurgling, he sat to a mighty meal of turbot, eels,
lobsters, ormers, capons, boar's head, brawn, and mustard, swan, curlew,
and spiced meats. This he washed down with bastard, malmsey, and good
ale, topped with almonds, comfits, perfumed cherries with "ipocras,"
then sprinkled himself with rose-water and dabbled his face and hands
in it. Filled to the turret, he lurched to his feet, and drinking to Sir
Hugh's toast,

"Her sacred Majesty!" he clanked and roared. "Elizabeth!" as though
upon the field of battle. He felt the star of De Carteret declining
and Rozel's glory ascending like a comet. Once set in a course, nothing
could change him. Other men might err, but once right, the Seigneur of
Rozel was everlasting.

Of late he had made the cause of Michel de la Foret and Angele Aubert
his own. For this he had been raked upon the coals by De Carteret of St.
Ouen's and his following, who taunted him with the saying: "Save a thief
from hanging and he'll cut your throat." Not that there was ill feeling
against De la Foret in person. He had won most hearts by a frank yet
still manner, and his story and love for Angele had touched the women
folk where their hearts were softest. But the island was not true to
itself or its history if it did not divide itself into factions, headed
by the Seigneurs, and there had been no ground for good division for
five years till De la Foret came.

Short of actual battle, this new strife was the keenest ever known,
for Sir Hugh Pawlett was ranged on the side of the Seigneur of Rozel.
Kinsman of the Comtesse de Montgomery, of Queen Elizabeth's own
Protestant religion, and admiring De la Foret, he had given every
countenance to the Camisard refugee. He had even besought the Royal
Court of Jersey to grant a pardon to Buonespoir the pirate, on condition
that he should never commit a depredation upon an inhabitant of the
island--this he was to swear to by the little finger of St. Peter.
Should he break his word, he was to be banished the island for ten
years, under penalty of death if he returned. When the hour had come for
Buonespoir to take the oath, he failed to appear; and the next morning
the Seigneur of St. Ouen's discovered that during the night his cellar
had been raided of two kegs of ca