ied for it cheerfully. I
have laughed often, talking of King William's reign, and said I thought
Lady Castlewood was disappointed the King did not persecute the family
more; and those who know the nature of women may fancy for themselves,
what needs not here be written down, the rapture with which these
neophytes received the mystery when made known to them; the eagerness
with which they looked forward to its completion; the reverence which
they paid the minister who initiated them into that secret Truth, now
known only to a few, but presently to reign over the world. Sure there
is no bound to the trustingness of women. Look at Arria worshipping the
drunken clodpate of a husband who beats her; look at Cornelia treasuring
as a jewel in her maternal heart the oaf her son; I have known a woman
preach Jesuit's bark, and afterwards Dr. Berkeley's tar-water, as though
to swallow them were a divine decree, and to refuse them no better than
blasphemy.

On his return from France Colonel Esmond put himself at the head of
this little knot of fond conspirators. No death or torture he knew would
frighten them out of their constancy. When he detailed his plan for
bringing the King back, his elder mistress thought that that Restoration
was to be attributed under heaven to the Castlewood family and to its
chief, and she worshipped and loved Esmond, if that could be, more than
ever she had done. She doubted not for one moment of the success of his
scheme, to mistrust which would have seemed impious in her eyes. And as
for Beatrix, when she became acquainted with the plan, and joined it, as
she did with all her heart, she gave Esmond one of her searching bright
looks. "Ah, Harry," says she, "why were you not the head of our house?
You are the only one fit to raise it; why do you give that silly boy the
name and the honor? But 'tis so in the world; those get the prize that
don't deserve or care for it. I wish I could give you YOUR silly prize,
cousin, but I can't; I have tried, and I can't." And she went away,
shaking her head mournfully, but always, it seemed to Esmond, that her
liking and respect for him was greatly increased, since she knew what
capability he had both to act and bear; to do and to forego.

CHAPTER IX.

THE ORIGINAL OF THE PORTRAIT COMES TO ENGLAND.

'Twas announced in the family that my Lord Castlewood would arrive,
having a confidential French gentleman in his suite, who acted as
secretary to his lordship,