hetic. They were talking earnestly
as I entered but ceased their conversation at once. I offered my
services.

"I have no need of you this morning, Simon," answered the Duke. "I'm
engaged with Lord Carford."

I retired. But of a truth that morning every one in the Castle was
engaged with someone else. At every turn I came on couples in anxious
consultation. The approach of an intruder brought immediate silence,
the barest civility delayed him, his departure was received gladly and
was signal for renewed consultation. Well, the King sets the mode, and
the King, I heard, was closeted with Madame and the Duke of York.

But not with M. de Perrencourt. There was a hundred feet of the wall,
with a guard at one end and a guard at the other, and mid-way between
them a solitary figure stood looking down on Dover town and thence out
to sea. In an instant I recognised him, and a great desire came over me
to speak to him. He was the foremost man alive in that day, and I longed
to speak with him. To have known the great is to have tasted the true
flavour of your times. But how to pass the sentries? Their presence
meant that M. de Perrencourt desired privacy. I stepped up to one and
offered to pass. He barred the way.

"But I'm in the service of his Grace the Duke of Monmouth," I
expostulated.

"If you were in the service of the devil himself you couldn't pass here
without the King's order," retorted the fellow.

"Won't his head serve as well as his order?" I asked, slipping a crown
into his hand. "Come, I've a message from his Grace for the French
gentleman. Yes, it's private. Deuce take it, do fathers always know of
their sons' doings?"

"No, nor sons all their father's sometimes," he chuckled. "Along with
you quick, and run if you hear me whistle; it will mean my officer is
coming."

I was alone in the sacred space with M. de Perrencourt. I assumed an
easy air and sauntered along, till I was within a few yards of him.
Hearing my step then, he looked round with a start and asked
peremptorily,

"What's your desire, sir?"

By an avowal of himself, even by quoting the King's order, he could
banish me. But if his cue were concealment and ignorance of the order,
why, I might indulge my curiosity.

"Like your own, sir," I replied courteously, "a breath of fresh air and
a sight of the sea."

He frowned a little, but I gave him no time to speak.

"That fellow though," I pursued, "gave me to understand that none might
pas