would be too scanty for its
guests were we all to wear our hearts upon our sleeves. But to you in
this privacy I can tell my real thoughts without fear of betrayal or
misconstruction. On paper I will not write one word. Your memory must
be the sheet which bears my answer to Monmouth. And first of all, erase
from it all that you have heard me say in the council-room. Let it be as
though it never were spoken. Is that done?'

'I understand that it did not really represent your Grace's thoughts.'

'Very far from it, Captain. But prythee tell me what expectation of
success is there among the rebels themselves? You must have heard your
Colonel and others discuss the question, or noted by their bearing which
way their thoughts lay. Have they good hopes of holding out against the
King's troops?'

'They have met with naught but success hitherto,' I answered.

'Against the militia. But they will find it another thing when they have
trained troops to deal with. And yet--and yet!--One thing I know, that
any defeat of Feversham's army would cause a general rising throughout
the country. On the other hand, the King's party are active. Every
post brings news of some fresh levy. Albemarle still holds the militia
together in the west. The Earl of Pembroke is in arms in Wiltshire.
Lord Lumley is moving from the east with the Sussex forces. The Earl of
Abingdon is up in Oxfordshire. At the university the caps and gowns are
all turning into head-pieces and steel fronts. James's Dutch regiments
have sailed from Amsterdam. Yet Monmouth hath gained two fights, and why
not a third? They are troubled waters--troubled waters!' The Duke paced
backwards and forwards with brows drawn down, muttering all this to
himself rather than to me, and shaking his head like one in the sorest
perplexity.

'I would have you tell Monmouth,' he said at last, 'that I thank him for
the papers which he hath sent me, and that I will duly read and weigh
them. Tell him also that I wish him well in his enterprise, and would
help him were it not that I am hemmed in by those who watch me closely,
and who would denounce me were I to show my true thoughts. Tell him
that, should he move his army into these parts, I may then openly
declare myself; but to do so now would be to ruin the fortunes of my
house, without in any way helping him. Can you bear him that message?'

'I shall do so, your Grace.

'Tell me,' he asked, 'how doth Monmouth bear himself in this
enterpris