ry extraordinary," replied Keppel--"indeed, I
cannot understand them: but at all events I must beg you to remain a
little, while I go and speak to Lord Portland upon the subject.
Perhaps, if the King himself were to hear you, you might say more."
"I should say no more to the Personage you mention," replied the
other, "than I should to Lord Portland--for to the one I am obliged,
to the other, not."
"Well, wait a few minutes," replied Keppel, and quitted the room.
The other remained standing where the courtier had left him, though
the thought crossed his mind, "My errand is now done. Why should I
remain any longer? I should risk less by going now than by
lingering."
But still he stayed; and in two minutes, or perhaps less, the door
again opened, giving admission, not to Keppel, but to the elder
personage with whom he had spoken before. Advancing into the middle
of the room, he leaned upon the table, near which the other was
standing, and said--
"Monsieur Keppel has told me all that you have said, and, moreover,
what you have refused to say. First, let me tell you that I am much
obliged to you for the intelligence you have brought; and next, let
me exhort you to make it more full and complete to render it
effectual."
"I have made it as complete, my lord," replied his visitor, "as it is
possible for me to do without betraying men who were once my friends,
and who have only lost my friendship by such schemes as these. I must
not say any more even at your request; for I must not take from you
the power of saying, that you saved the life of a man of honour. You
must contrive means to secure the Great Personage we speak of, and I
doubt not you will be able to do so. I had but one object in coming
here, my lord, and that object was not a personal one; it was to tell
you of the danger, and thereby enable you to guard against it; it was
to tell you, that a body of rash and criminal men have conspired
together, to assassinate a Personage who stands in the way of their
schemes."
"Are there many of them?" demanded his companion.
"A great many," he replied--"enough to render their object perfectly
secure, if means be not taken to frustrate it."
"But," said the other, "the men must be mad, for many of them must be
taken and executed very soon."
"True," answered his visitor, "if we were to suppose the country
would remain quiet all the while. But assassination might only be the
prelude to insurrection and to civil war, and to the restoration of
our old monarchs