, rather, his wife--is all-powerful with our good Queen Anne;
and she would not wish a hair of a man's head hurt could she but
have her way."

"By the Duke you mean the great Duke of Marlborough, who has done
such great things in the war? But what is the war about? Can you
tell me that, for I have never rightly understood?"

Cale was a great politician in his own eyes, and was well versed in
the politics of the day. He strove hard to make Tom understand the
intricacies of the Spanish succession, the danger of allowing Spain
to be ruled by one of the Bourbons, and the fear of the
all-powerful French king, who seemed like to rule Europe, if the
allied powers could not make head against him. Tom did his best to
understand, and got a rather clearer view of the situation than he
had before; but what interested him most was the information that
the Duke would come over to England shortly, and that a magnificent
reception was to be given to him.

Whigs and Tories had alike grown proud of the victorious general,
and the war had become popular from success, though the drain on
the country was great. The Queen was personally liked, although she
was but a small power in the kingdom; and for the time being
Jacobite plots were in abeyance. So long as she lived, nobody was
likely seriously to desire the return of the banished Stuarts; but,
of course, there was the future to think for. Anne had no child to
succeed her; and the thought of the Hanoverian succession was by no
means universally approved. Still for the moment the Jacobite
agitation was in abeyance, and all England rejoiced in the
humiliation of so dangerous a foe as the great monarch of France.

Cale was full of stories of court gossip respecting the Queen and
the Duchess of Marlborough, whose affection for one another was a
byword throughout the realm. The Duke and Duchess were also most
tenderly attached; and the private lives of Anne and her Prince
George, and of the Duke and Duchess of Marlborough, presented a
bright contrast to the general laxity of morals prevailing at the
time. The rather austere rule of William and Mary had not really
purged the court of vicious habits, though such had been steadily
discouraged. Anne had not the force of character to impose her will
upon her subjects; and extravagance, frivolity, and foppery
flourished amazingly.

Tom felt his head in a perfect whirl as Cale chatted on of this
thing and that, passing from politics to court l