ns and those
consonant with his religion strove with his new-found loyalty to a
bastard. A week or two later we had news of the attempt made by my Lord
Shaftesbury to injure the Duke of York's cause by presenting his name as
that of a recusant, to the Middlesex grand jury. It was a mighty bold
thing to do, and though the attempt failed so far as that the judges
dismissed the jury while they were still deliberating, it shewed how
little my Lord feared the Duke or His Majesty and how much resolved he
was to establish, if he could, the Protestant succession and the Duke of
Monmouth's pretended claim to it. A deal of nonsense, too, was talked at
this time of how the Duke was truly legitimate, and how Mistress Lucy
Walters had been secretly married to the King, before ever poor Queen
Catherine had been heard of; and the proofs of all this, it was
reported, were in a certain Black Box that no one had ever set eyes on;
and the matter became so much a thing of ridicule that once at the play,
I think, when one of the actors carried on a black box, there was a roar
of laughter and jeering from the pit.

It was wonderful to hear my Cousin Tom hold forth upon the situation.

One evening in September, two months after our adventure of the Duke's
coming, after a long silence, he made a little discourse upon it all.

"I should not be surprised," said he, "if there was more in the tale
than most men think. It is not likely that the proofs of the marriage
would be easy to come by, in such a case; for Mistress Walters, whom I
think I once saw at Tunbridge Wells, was not at all of the King's
position even by blood; and it is less likely that His Majesty, who was
but a very young man at that time, would have stood out against her when
she wished marriage. Besides there is no doubt that he knew her long
before there was any prospect of his coming to the throne. Then too
there has always appeared, to my mind at least, something in the Duke's
bearing and carriage that it would be very hard for a bastard to have.
He has a very princely air."

To such talk as this I would make no answer; but I would watch my Cousin
Dorothy's face; and think that I read there something that I did not
like--an interest that she should not feel: and, after a pause my Cousin
Tom would proceed in his conjectures.

It was on the day following this particular discourse, which I remember
very well, for my jealousy had so much worked up that I was very near
breakin