ng Gardens,* where I have a promise to
make to the director; and, secondly, on a mission of charity to a poor
foreigner of rank and birth, who, in his profound ignorance of this
country, thought it right to enter into a plot with some wise heads, and
to reveal it to some foolish tongues, who brought it to us with as much
clatter as if it were a second gunpowder project. I easily brought
him off that scrape, and I am now going to give him a caution for the
future. Poor gentleman, I hear that he is grievously distressed in
pecuniary matters, and I always had a kindness for exiles. Who knows but
that a state of exile may be our own fate! and this alien is sprung from
a race as haughty as that of St. John or of Devereux. The _res angusta
domi_ must gall him sorely!"

* Vauxhall.

"True," said I, slowly. "What may be the name of the foreigner?"

"Why--complain not hereafter that I do not trust you in state matters--I
will indulge--D'Alvarez--Don Diego,--a hidalgo of the best blood of
Andalusia; and not unworthy of it, I fancy, in the virtues of fighting,
though he may be in those of council. But--Heavens! Devereux--you seem
ill!"

"No, no! Have you ever seen this man?"

"Never."

At this word a thrill of joy shot across me, for I knew St. John's fame
for gallantry, and I was suspicious of the motives of his visit.

"St. John, I know this Spaniard; I know him well, and intimately. Could
you not commission me to do your errand, and deliver your caution?
Relief from me he might accept; from you, as a stranger, pride might
forbid it; and you would really confer on me a personal and essential
kindness, if you would give me so fair an opportunity to confer kindness
upon him."

"Very well, I am delighted to oblige you in any way. Take his direction;
you see his abode is in a very pitiful suburb. Tell him from me that he
is quite safe at present; but tell him also to avoid, henceforth,
all imprudence, all connection with priests, plotters, _et tous ces
gens-la_, as he values his personal safety, or at least his continuance
in this most hospitable country. It is not from every wood that we make
a Mercury, nor from every brain that we can carve a Mercury's genius of
intrigue."

"Nobody ought to be better skilled in the materials requisite for such
productions than Mr. Secretary St. John!" said I; "and now, adieu."

"Adieu, if you will not ride with me. We meet at Sir William Wyndham's
to-morrow."

Masking my agitation