n an end of the quarrel altogether. But now that
they have settled it on Sophia of Hanover, granddaughter of James
the 1st, and her descendants, subject to the restriction that they
shall be Protestants, the quarrel does not seem likely to be
healed."

"This priest of yours must be a dangerous man," O'Sullivan said.

"Not at all. I can assure you, he is devoted to the king; but, as
he told me, there is no use in Irishmen always closing their eyes
to the true state of things. He says that we must rely upon
ourselves, and our loyal friends in Scotland and England, but that
he is sure the king will never be placed on his throne by French
bayonets. A small auxiliary force may be sent over, but, in all
these years, Louis has made no real effort to assist him; and even
if, for his own purposes, he sent a great army to England, and
placed him on the throne, he would not be able to maintain himself
there for a month after the French had withdrawn, for even a
rightful king would be hated by the people upon whom he had been
forced, by a foreign power, especially a power that had, for
centuries, been regarded as their chief enemy. If he had been in
earnest, Louis would have sent over a great army, instead of a few
thousand men, to Ireland, when such a diversion would have turned
the scale in our favour. As he did not do so then, he is not
likely to do so in the future. The king is useful to him, here, by
keeping up an agitation that must, to some extent, cripple the
strength of England; but, were a Stuart on the throne, he would
have to listen to the wishes of the majority of his people, and
France would gain nothing by placing him there. Moreover, she
would lose the services of twenty thousand of her best soldiers,
for naturally the exiles would all return home, and what is now
the most valuable force in the French service, might then become
an equally important one in the service of Britain."

"I am glad that this priest of yours remains quietly in Kilkargan,
for, if he were to come here, and expound his views among our
regiments, he might cause quite a defection among them. At any
rate, Kennedy, I should advise you not to take to propagating his
views in the regiment. It would not add to your comfort, or ours,
and there are a good many hot-headed men who would take up the
idea that you had been infected by O'Carroll's principles."

"It would not be well for anyone to say as much to my face,"
Desmond said. "Father O'Leary