ier who had ridden beside the King
that afternoon.

"The Earl of Marlborough!"

"The same, sirs; and your servant."

"Be kind enough, my lord, to state the message you bring from your
master, and to leave this house as soon as it is delivered."

To Captain Barker's astonishment, the Earl showed no sign of
resenting this speech.

"You are wrong," he answered quietly; "William of Orange is not my
master. If I mistake not, you and I, gentlemen, acknowledge but one
sovereign ruler, King James."

At these bold words, uttered in the calmest voice, the two captains
caught their breath and stared at each other. Captain Runacles was
the first to recover. He laughed incredulously.

"Your lordship appears to have forgotten Salisbury."

Any other man would have winced at this taunt. But the Earl of
Marlborough met it with the face of a statue.

"Captain Runacles, I have neither forgotten it nor am likely to.
The remembrance of that affair has followed me night and day.
I cannot--even now that I am pardoned--rid myself of its horror.
I cannot eat; I cannot sleep. I see my crime in its true light, and
am appalled by its enormity. And yet--God help me!--I thought at the
time I was saving my country. Gentlemen, you, who have faced no such
responsibility as then confronted me, will be apt to judge me without
mercy. I know not if I can persuade you that my remorse is honest.
But consider--Here am I at William's right hand, already rich and
powerful, and possessing limitless prospects of increased power and
riches. Yet am I ready to sacrifice everything, to brave everything,
to bring utter ruin on my fortune, if only I can rid myself of this
nightmare of shame. Is this the attitude of insincerity?"

"Upon my word, my lord, I'd give something to know why the devil you
tell all this to us."

"I hardly know myself," answered the Earl, sighing deeply, but still
without a grain of expression on his handsome face. "A man haunted
as I am can hardly account for all his utterances. I have come to do
you a service, and, having done it, might have withdrawn without a
word. But the sight of you recalled the honest words you spoke to
the usurper this afternoon. Sirs, I envied you then; and just now an
insane longing took hold of me to set myself right with two such
inflexible friends of King James."

"Would it not be more to the point if you first obtained pardon from
King James himself?"

"I have done so."

"Well, my