olized by the soldiers and loved by us all. You must not judge
him, in the slightest degree, by what he now is. He has a great
deal on his mind, and has, so it is whispered, no small trouble in
keeping the peace between Vendome and Burgundy. The failure, too,
of the expedition to Scotland must have greatly disappointed him,
and I have no doubt he expected to be put at the head of any
French army sent over to place James upon the throne. However, he
may congratulate himself now that he was not with it, for no
honour and no gain has been earned by any concerned in it."

"That certainly is so," Desmond agreed. "It was a mismanaged
affair altogether. To begin with, twenty thousand men should have
been sent instead of six thousand; and in the next place, the
fleet should have assembled at Brest or Bordeaux, for in that
case, although the news of its assembling would assuredly have
reached England, it would not have been known whether it was
intended that the landing should be made in Ireland, Scotland, or
on the English coast, while by gathering at Dunkirk no doubt was
left as to the destination. This was proved by the fact that, when
the English fleet watching the port was driven off by a gale, and
an opportunity was thus given for a start, instead of coming back
again, as we had hoped, only to find that we had left, it sailed
straight for the north, making absolutely certain that we were
bound for Edinburgh."

"Well, we must hope," O'Sullivan said, "that next time the force
will, as you say, be fully twenty thousand men, will include the
Irish Brigade, will be led by Berwick, and will land in Ireland."

At this moment an orderly entered.

"The duke requires your attendance, Lieutenant Kennedy."

Desmond at once went to the duke's apartments.

"You will start at once for Lille, Mr. Kennedy, and will report
yourself to Marshal Vendome. I have arranged with him that one of
my aides-de-camp shall accompany the force that is about to
advance, and shall keep me informed of what is being done. I have
selected you because I know you to be active and shrewd. The
marshal is too much occupied to send me such full reports as I
should wish, and I look to you not only to give me facts, but to
convey to me your impressions of what you see passing around you.
Do not fear to speak plainly. Your communications will be strictly
private, and your views will be thus of far more use to me than
the official expressions of the marshal and