unpleasant, saturnine face, which frightened me. That, as far as
I could see, was the whole company. When I first began to listen,
the man in uniform was speaking to the handsome man at the head
of the table. I knew at once, when he said Your Majesty, that he
was talking to James, the Duke of Monmouth, of whom I had heard
that afternoon.

"No, your Majesty," he said. "No, your Majesty," he repeated, "I
can't answer for the army. If things had been different in
February" (he meant, "if you had been in England when Charles II
died") "there would have been another King in England. As it is,
I'm against a rising."

"Don't you think his Majesty could succeed by raising an army in
the West?" said Mr. Jermyn. "The present usurper (he meant James
II) is a great coward. The West is ripe to rebel. Any strong
demonstration there would paralyse him. Besides, the army
wouldn't fire on their own countrymen. We'd enough of that in the
Civil War. What do you think of a Western rising?"

The soldier smiled. "Ah no," he said. "No, your Majesty. Whatever
you do, Sire, don't do it with untrained men. A rising in the
West would only put you at the head of a mob. A regiment of
steady trained men in good discipline can destroy any mob in
twenty minutes. No, your Majesty. No. Don't try. it, Sire."

"Then what do you advise, Lane?" said the Duke.

"I would say wait, your Majesty. Wait till the usurper, the
poisoner, commits himself with the Papists. When he's made