p from the table before him a newly sealed little packet that I
had not noticed before; and sat weighing it in his hand, as if
considering, while his eyes searched my face.

"Sir--" I began.

"Yes, Mr. Mallock, I know what you would say. That is all very well; but
my servants must not make mistakes such as you have made. It was the
height of madness for you to go to the Court at all to-day. I have no
doubt that you were seen there, and followed; and you could have been of
no service to your friends there, in any case. Mr. Chiffinch tells me he
will provide a wherry for you immediately, that you may go back without
observation. You must do this. The question before my mind is as to
whether you shall take this packet with you, or not. What do you say,
Mr. Mallock?"

All the while he had been speaking, I had been in a torment of misery.
As yet I had done little or nothing for His Majesty, after all my
commissioning from Rome; and now that the first piece of work was on
hand, it was doubtful whether I had not forfeited it by my clumsiness.
For the moment I forgot what I had come for. I was all set on acquitting
myself well. I was but twenty-one years old!

"Sir," I cried, "if your Majesty will entrust that to me, you shall
never repent it."

He smiled; but his face went back again to its heaviness. "It is a very
difficult commission," he said. "And, what is of more importance than
all else is that the packet should fall into no hand other than the one
that should have it. For this reason, there is no name written upon it.
But I have sealed it with a private signet of my own, both within and
without; and you must bear the packet with you until you can deliver
it."

"I understand, Sir."

"I can send no courier with it, for the reasons of which I have spoken.
No man, Mr. Mallock, but you and I must know of its very existence.
Neither can I tell you now to whom the packet must be given. You must
bear it with you, sir, until you have a message from me, signed with the
same seal as that which it bears, telling you where you must take it,
and to whom. You understand?"

"I understand, Sir."

"You must leave London immediately until your face is forgotten, and
until this storm is over. You have a cousin in the country?"

"Yes, Sir; Mr. Jermyn at Hare Street."

"You had best lie there for the present; and I can send to you there, so
soon as I have an opportunity. Meanwhile you must have this always at
hand, and be read