hat of the
Parliament, hath been already encountered by a stronger tyranny, that of
the army. But that is a regimen to which Englishmen will not submit."

"Then you are for the English, Sir George, rather than for the French."

"Aye, aye, Sir," answered the other. "For the King of England, if
possible. But for the Gaul we are not. We are of the old blood of the
Franks and Normans. We have served our Dukes ever since the battle of
Hastings; but when they became English, why, we became English too. We
beat the French under Du Guesclin, we beat them under Maulevrier. From
England we have had none but good and honest handling. We are English
above all."

"Well said!" cried the Secretary. "I am no boaster, neither do I claim
the gift of prophecy, like some of our saints yonder. But I am persuaded
that a day will come when your words will be put to the proof. You will
have to choose not between King and Commons, but between England and
France you yourself said so but now."

"_Mon Dieu_! the choice will be soon made," cried Carteret. "And now let
us to table. For albeit Dame Carteret is lying-in, it will be hard but I
can furnish a friend some junk and biscuit."

ACT IV.

THE DUEL.

Tom Elliot was a very bad sample of the cavalier party. Trained in
camps, he had learned betimes to seek his happiness in wine, dice, loose
speech, and morals to match. As in France, the successors of the Sullys
and Du Plessis Mornays had become the coxcombs of the Fronde, and the
grandson of Bras-de-Fer was known as Bras-de-Laine, so the character and
conduct of men like Hyde, Ormonde, and Falkland furnished no example to
such as Villiers and Wilmot, whose only ideal of imitation was
scurrilous mimicry. Where the elder cavaliers had been proud to serve
their king, the rising generation was content if it could amuse him; and
with that Charles was satisfied.

Thus Elliot had learned that for such an escapade as his last he might
easily obtain forgiveness. It was not that Charles was, even in youth, a
sincere or warm friend. His easy good nature had its root in
self-indulgence. Clarendon, who knew him and his family _intus et in
cute_, has pointed this out in one of his best character sentences.
"They were too much inclined to love men at first sight," so writes the
faithful servant of the Stuarts. "They did not love the conversation of
men of more years than themselves. They did not love to deny, ... not
out of bounty or generosity