ious
stones. There were none more handsome of face or figure. Courtiers and
wits abounded, but none more courtly or witty than he, when he was
moved. None bowed before his Majesty's dais with more grace, appearing
more a king than he who filled the Royal chair. He erred not in the
most minute detail of demeanour. There was no one in the realm that
held more of his Majesty's regard.

After being detained some moments at the Royal chair, he went to seek
Buckingham, whose first words smote him foolishly.

"It is said, my lord, that Love hath Cupid's wings, and I verily
believe William was right, or else how couldst thou have fluttered
from a couch of painful wounds to London either by chaise or a horse?
Ah!--Love is nascent; after cycles of time it may become mature enough
to be introduced into Court--eh!--my lord?"

"Contemporary chronicles relate that the mind is capable of greater
suffering than the body, and when both are affected, if we give
precedence to the employment of the mind, the body is at once cured;
hence my sound chest. Hast thou seen Sir Julian?"

"He is with Monmouth in his chamber. They have been drinking deep, or
at least the Duke, who is pouring out in Pomphrey's ear confidences
almost too maudlin to be understood;" and there was a covert sneer
on the haughty lips of his Grace. At the name of Monmouth and the
knowledge that he was not with Katherine, Cedric's great tension
appeared to snap asunder. For a moment Buckingham gazed at his
companion as if in him there were undiscovered mines. Then suddenly
his mind and eye returned to the tangible, and he run his arm through
that of Cedric's and drew him away. When they were quite alone, the
Duke, without the shadow of compunction, said,--

"You, my lord, are ambitious of nothing but domesticity. Is it not
so?" His Lordship looked up with a start. If there was one thing he
hated more than another, it was intrigue. And though he was ever
environed by it, yet 'twas not his business now. He had come seeking
Buckingham for the purpose of asking his assistance with the Duke
of Monmouth, and at these words, so foreign from his interests, he
frowned slightly and answered,--

"'Twould be difficult to say at what I aspire, seeing the thing I
coveted most is taken from me. If that were mine, it might open up a
vista of aspirations I had ne'er thought on heretofore I see only one
thing at the present worth possessing."

"And to possess that--thou art one of t