has been played with the confessor of this unhappy
Chevalier de Crussol."

"That is just what happened, your highness. Father Griffen, seeing
himself the depository of such an important state secret, found himself
terribly embarrassed; he feared to commit a culpable action toward his
sovereign in keeping silent; he feared by speaking to violate the seal
of the confessional and to ruin you. In this quandary, and desiring to
quiet his conscience, he resolved to go to France, to confess all to the
general of his order, and to thus free himself of all responsibility."

"I understand, now, your comparison, sir; but as this secret has been
noised abroad, it necessarily follows that, in order to carry out your
comparison, some one has cheated."

"I can assure your highness that it is many months since Father Griffen,
after his resolution had been taken, arrived in France and confided all
to the general of the order; he, in turn, took all the responsibility
upon himself, and completely absolved Father Griffen, recommending to
him the greatest secrecy."

"And to whom the devil did the general of the order pass the
shoulder-knot?" said the Gascon, who was much amused by this story.

"Before answering your highness, I must say that the general of the
order concealed beneath an austere exterior a most unbridled ambition;
that few men possessed to so high a degree the genius for intrigue; or
played more audaciously with what the world reveres. Once master of the
important secret that Father Griffen had confided to him, as his
spiritual superior, in order to quiet his conscience, the general of the
order desired to use this secret for his own personal advancement.
Intimately linked with the confessor of his majesty, King James, Father
Briars, a cunning Jesuit, who understood perfectly the condition of
affairs in England, he led the conversation one day to the location of
this island, and the general of the order asked Father Briars if, in
case you had been still living, your highness, you would not have many
opportunities for rallying about you the partisans of the Stuarts, and
thus placing yourself at the head of a movement against the Prince of
Orange. Father Briars replied that if you had lived your influence would
have been immense, if you were sincerely devoted to the cause of King
James; that this prince had often regretted your death, when thinking of
the services you could have rendered to the cause of the Stuarts. You
c