an in uniform was speaking to the handsome man at the
head of the table. I knew at once, when he said Your Majesty, that he
was talking to James, the Duke of Monmouth, of whom I had heard that
afternoon.

"No, your Majesty," he said. "No, your Majesty," he repeated, "I can't
answer for the army. If things had been different in February" (he
meant, "if you had been in England when Charles II died") "there would
have been another King in England. As it is, I'm against a rising."

"Don't you think his Majesty could succeed by raising an army in the
West?" said Mr. Jermyn. "The present usurper (he meant James II) is a
great coward. The West is ripe to rebel. Any strong demonstration
there would paralyse him. Besides, the army wouldn't fire on their own
countrymen. We'd enough of that in the Civil War. What do you think of a
Western rising?"

The soldier smiled. "Ah no," he said. "No, your Majesty. Whatever you
do, Sire, don't do it with untrained men. A rising in the West would
only put you at the head of a mob. A regiment of steady trained men in
good discipline can destroy any mob in twenty minutes. No, your Majesty.
No. Don't try. it, Sire."

"Then what do you advise, Lane?" said the Duke.

"I would say wait, your Majesty. Wait till the usurper, the poisoner,
commits himself with the Papists. When he's made himself thoroughly
unpopular throughout the country, then sound a few regiments. It's only
a matter of a year or two. If you'll wait for a year or two you'll see
yourself invited over. Besides, a sudden rising in the West must fail,
sir. Your Majesty would be in between two great garrisons, Bristol and
Portsmouth. We can't be sure that either would be true to us."

"Yes," the Duke answered. "Yes, Lane. But as I plan it, the army will
be tempted north. Argyle will make a strong feint in Scotland, with the
great clans, just when the Western gentry declare for us."

"I take it," Lane answered, "that Argyle has sounded the clans. He
knows, I suppose, what force of drilled men will rally to him. You know
nothing, sir, about the West. You know that many men are for you; but
you know not how many nor how good. You will need mounted men, sir,
if you are to dash down upon London with any speed. You cannot raise
cavalry in a week. All that you will get in the West will be squireens,
or dashing young farmers, both kinds unaccustomed to being ordered; both
kinds totally unfitted for war."

"Yes," said the saturnine littl