nation felt for them had given him much pain; but he had not been
annoyed by any quarrel among themselves. Zulestein and
Auverquerque had, without a murmur, yielded to Portland the first
place in the royal favour; nor had Portland grudged to Zulestein
and Auverquerque very solid and very signal proofs of their
master's kindness. But a younger rival had lately obtained an
influence which created much jealousy. Among the Dutch gentlemen
who had sailed with the Prince of Orange from Helvoetsluys to
Torbay was one named Arnold Van Keppel. Keppel had a sweet and
obliging temper, winning manners, and a quick, though not a
profound, understanding. Courage, loyalty and secresy were common
between him and Portland. In other points they differed widely.
Portland was naturally the very opposite of a flatterer, and,
having been the intimate friend of the Prince of Orange at a time
when the interval between the House of Orange and the House of
Bentinck was not so wide as it afterwards became, had acquired a
habit of plain speaking which he could not unlearn when the
comrade of his youth had become the sovereign of three kingdoms.
He was a most trusty, but not a very respectful, subject. There
was nothing which he was not ready to do or suffer for William.
But in his intercourse with William he was blunt and sometimes
surly. Keppel, on the other hand, had a great desire to please,
and looked up with unfeigned admiration to a master whom he had
been accustomed, ever since he could remember, to consider as the
first of living men. Arts, therefore, which were neglected by the
elder courtier were assiduously practised by the younger. So
early as the spring of 1691 shrewd observers were struck by the
manner in which Keppel watched every turn of the King's eye, and
anticipated the King's unuttered wishes. Gradually the new
servant rose into favour. He was at length made Earl of Albemarle