* * * * *

It was that same evening, I think (for my diary is confused at this
time, and no wonder), that when I came back to my lodgings about
supper-time, I found that a man had been from Mr. Chiffinch to bid me
come to Whitehall as soon as I returned; but the messenger had not
seemed greatly perturbed, James told me; so I changed my clothes and had
my supper and set out.

It would be about half-past seven o'clock when I came to Mr.
Chiffinch's; and when I tapped I had no answer. I tapped again; and then
a servant of Mr. Chiffinch's came running up the stairs (who had left
his post, I suspect) and asked me what I wanted there. When I told him
he seemed surprised, and he said that Mr. Chiffinch had company in his
inner closet; but that he would speak with him. So he left me standing
there; and went through, and I heard a door shut within. Presently he
came out again in something of a hurry, and bade me come in; and, to my
astonishment we went through the first room that was empty, and out
again beyond and down a dark passage. I heard voices as I went, talking
rapidly somewhere, but there was no one to be seen. Then he knocked
softly upon a door at the end of the passage; a voice cried to us to
come in; and I entered; and, to my astonishment, not only was the little
closet half full of persons, but these persons were somewhat
exceptional.

At the end of the table that was opposite me, sat His Majesty, tilting
his chair back a little as if he were weary of the talk; but his face
was flushed as if with anger. Upon his right sat the Duke, with his
periwig pushed a little back, and his face more flushed even than the
King's. Opposite to the Duke sat two men, whom I took to be priests by
their faces--one fair, the other dark--(and I presently proved to be
right)--and beside him Mr. Chiffinch, very eager-looking, and lean,
talking at a great speed, with his hands clasped upon the table.
Finally, my Lord Danby sat next to the Duke, opposite to Mr. Chiffinch,
with a sullen look upon his face. There was a great heap of papers,
again, upon the table, between the five men. All these persons turned
their eyes upon me as I came in and bowed low to the company; and then
Mr. Chiffinch jerked back a chair that was beside him, and beckoned to
me to sit down in it. The room appeared to me a secret kind of place,
with curtains pulled across the windows, where a man might be very
private if he wished. Mr. Chif