strange tools. Well, let him employ this
strange tool--and it shall not play him false!

"My coffers are almost bare, Tom. And I am sick of crowds and
foppery and the follies of the city. I would fain away on the back
of my good steed, and feel what freedom is like once more. Gold I
must have; and the King's gold is my fancy. Let me win it this time
by my services, which shall be true and faithful; but if not--well,
let them not say the fault is mine!"

"The Queen's, you mean," said Tom. "We serve our Queen now."

Lord Claud gave a short laugh.

"You speak sooth, honest Tom; we have a Queen now, and I would not
do despite to our good Queen Anne! I was thinking of the last time
I had won royal gold--then it was the King's money that replenished
my empty exchequer!"

He laughed again, and Tom looked at him half uneasily; which
perceiving, he changed his tone, and in a short time the youth had
forgotten everything save the glorious prospect of adventure and
peril, and the handling thereafter of golden treasure; for if the
Duke was accounted a lover of money, no man ever accused him of
showing meanness in rewarding the services of others.

The next weeks flew by almost like a dream for Tom; and truly he
felt he must surely be dreaming when he watched the gorgeous
pageant of the third of January, and witnessed from a commanding
situation the grand procession of the trophies of war as it wound
its way from the Tower to Westminster Hall.

Companies of horse and foot made a brave and gallant show; row
after row of pikemen with the captured standards; a goodly number
of the nobles of the land; and the great Duke himself, at whose'
appearance the populace shouted till they were hoarse, ladies waved
handkerchiefs, and the city seemed to go mad with joy and applause.

Almost grander still was the pageant three days later, when the
victor of Blenheim went in state to the Goldsmiths' Hall, to a
banquet given in his honour by the Lord Mayor and Town Council. He
was conveyed there in one of the royal carriages; the greatest men
in the kingdom, and some princely guests, accompanied him; and
again the whole city turned out to give him welcome. At Temple Bar
the city marshals received him in state, garlands were flung, and
trumpets proclaimed the idol of the hour. The Commons were
petitioning the Queen to suggest some fitting tribute for the
services of so great a man; and the gift of the royal manor of
Woodstock, and the erec