“He drow de gage; anodder agcept it; dey vight; my man vall. Vat is to vollow?” he demanded. “Ja! Dat is vat strike idself into me bom-bom,” said Schomberg the warrior. Lord Halifax smiled rather sheepishly. He was a large, tolerant soul of sixty, repudiating all sentiment and subject to much. He had been called the “Trimmer”; but, then, no man of humour can ever be a man of convictions. Kind, witty, and cynical, he was yet so fond of Reason that he could make a fool of himself with her. He was even worked upon to do so in the present case. “There is positively no precedent, sire,” he said. “To my certain knowledge the thing has never happened before.” “Bot zhould it jost zo happen?” insisted his master. “Ach!” said D’Auverquerque penetratingly. “With deference, sire,” said his lordship, “is it not something premature to assume any hostile intent in the matter? The good lady----” “Posh!” put in the King irritably. “Neither goot nor lady.” “Zo it strike itself into mein head bom-bom,” said Schomberg. “Dat dress vas a masguerade,” said William--“a vact we zhould haf gonsidered, blain to the stupidest indelligence.” “Certainly, certainly,” agreed Lord Halifax nervously. “Vell, sir--vat den?” “Ach! vat den?” demanded D’Auverquerque cunningly. “I vill dell your lordship,” said Schomberg. “Dere was a vine swordsman gonzealed under dose bettigoats.” The Lord Privy Seal, considering the subject, woke to a certain trepidation. “It is impossible,” he admitted, “to avoid attaching a measure of importance to the affair, or to gauge its consequences should it be carried through. Surely Sir Charles could not be so foolish as to risk a serious encounter? But he must be found and warned at all costs.” His mood communicated itself to the others. The matter began to assume with them all an increasingly sinister aspect. Majesty was not yet so safe on its throne that omens could be disregarded. The King, prompt and tireless, for all his sickly constitution, in business--the little man who was to regain for England her reputation for workaday sanity--had yet, at this beginning, a vast estate to recover from chaos, and his path was beset with perils. The country was still in two minds, and each distracted; a trifle might upset the balance. Deliberating in this sort, a species of hysteria communicated itself after a time from one to another of the little Council, until it definitely came to perceive in the episode a daring ruse for bringing about a reaction in popular sentiment. What if the meeting were actually to occur, and the Champion to be overthrown? It was not to be doubted that the event would have been provided for, and those engaged in bringing it about forearmed. Defeat might result in riot, and riot in revolution. Arrived at that pitch of the debate, the six gentlemen, including his Majesty, were all speaking together in considerable agitation.