"--An address praying that all foreigners may be dismissed from his
Majesty's service."
The Earl looked up swiftly and checked his fingers, which had been
drumming on the table.
"Decidedly you are intelligent," he said very slowly.
"What can William do if that address is carried, as it may be?
To yield will be to discard his dearest friends: to resist will mean
a national rising. He will lose his crown."
"And then?"
"My lord, _may it not be possible to eject William without restoring
James?_"
"Ah!"
"There is the Princess Anne."
The Earl looked into his companion's eyes and read his own thoughts
there. James was a Papist, William a Dutchman; but the Princess Anne
was an Englishwoman and a Protestant. And the Earl and his Countess
held the Princess Anne under their thumbs. Let her succeed to the
throne, and he would be, to all intents, King of England. Nay, he
would hold the balance of Europe in his palm.
"My friend," he said, under his breath, "you are too dangerous."
Aloud he gave the talk a new turn.
"This mutiny will not succeed," he observed reflectively. "The men
who intend to rise must be informed against."
"It appears so."
"But not too soon. They must not succeed, as I said; but they must
have time enough to show their countrymen that the discontent is
serious, and to convince James that only an accident has prevented
their coming over to him in a body.
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