that he does not trouble himself
greatly about religion. I should say that he was a disciple of
Voltaire, until Voltaire came here; when, upon acquaintance, he saw
through the vanity of the little Frenchman, and has been much less
enthusiastic about him since.

"By the way, how did you come here?"

"We heard of a ship sailing for Stettin, and that hurried my
departure by some days. I made a good voyage there, and on landing
bought a horse and rode here."

"Well, I am afraid your horse won't do to carry one of my
aides-de-camp, so you had best dispose of it, for what it will
fetch. I will mount you myself. His majesty was pleased to give me
two horses, the other day, and my stable is therefore over full.

"Now, Fergus, we will drink a goblet of wine to your new
appointment, and success to your career."

"From what you said in your letter to my mother, sir, you think it
likely that we shall see service, before long?"

"Aye, lad, and desperate service, too. We have--but mind, this must
go no further--sure news that Russia, Austria, France, and Saxony
have formed a secret league against Prussia, and that they intend
to crush us first, and then partition the kingdom among themselves.
The Empress of Austria has shamelessly denied that any such treaty
exists, but tomorrow morning a messenger will start, with a demand
from the king that the treaty shall be publicly acknowledged and
then broken off, or that he will at once proclaim war. If we say
nine days for the journey there, nine days to return, and three
days waiting for the answer, you see that in three weeks from the
present we may be on the move, for our only chance depends upon
striking a heavy blow before they are ready. We have not wasted our
time. The king has already made an alliance with England."

"But England has no troops, or scarcely any," Fergus said.

"No, lad, but she has what is of quite as much importance in
war--namely, money, and she can grant us a large subsidy. The
king's interest in the matter is almost as great as ours. He is a
Hanoverian more than an Englishman, and you may be sure that, if
Prussia were to be crushed, the allies would make but a single bite
of Hanover. You see, this will be a war of life and death to us,
and the fighting will be hard and long."

"But what grievance has France against the king?"

"His majesty is open spoken, and no respecter of persons; and a
woman may forgive an injury, but never a scornful gibe. It is