try; but by courageous action;
and since God has placed me here in the position that I hold, it is to
Him alone that I must answer. You can send that message back to Rome,
sir, as soon as you like."

Now there was James, true to himself; and I could see that further words
would be wasted. I smoothed him down as well as I could; and I was happy
to see that it was not with myself that he was angry--(for he made that
very plain)--for that I still might hope he would listen to me later on.
But anything further at that time was useless; so I prepared to take my
leave; and he made no opposition.

"Well, sir," he said, "you have given your message very well; and I
thank you for not wrapping it up. You have done very well in France, I
hear."

"His Majesty hath been pleased to think so," I said. Then his face
lightened again.

"Ah!" said he, "when the time comes, we shall shew Europe what England
can do. We shall astonish even Rome itself, I think. We have long been
without the light; but it is dawning once more, and when the sun is
indeed risen, as His Majesty said, men will be amazed at us. We shall
need no more help from France then. The whole land will be a garden of
the Lord."

His face itself was alight with enthusiasm; and I wondered how, once
more in this man, as in many others, the Church shewed itself able to
inspire and warm, yet without that full moral conversion that she
desires. He was not yet by any means free from the sins of the flesh and
from pride--(which two things so commonly go together)--he could not be
released from these until humiliation should come on him--as it did, and
made him very like a Saint before the end. Meanwhile it was something to
thank God for that he should be so whole-hearted and zealous, even
though he lacked discretion.

As I was going down the stairs whom should I run into, coming up, but
Father Huddleston, who stopped to speak with me. I did not know him very
well; though I had talked with him once or twice. He was the one priest
of English blood who was tolerated openly and legally in England, and
who had leave to wear his habit, for his saving of the King's life after
the battle of Worcester.

"So you are home again, Mr. Mallock," he said in his cheery voice.

I told him Yes; and that I was come for a good time.

"And His Majesty?" he said. "Have you seen him? He is terribly aged, is
he not, this last year."

This priest was a very pleasant-looking fellow, going on for