Mendes went on in a tone of quiet deliberation: “The day of these Pretenders is over. A King who has been driven from the throne by a rival or by a foreigner may have some chance of getting back again. But these Latin princelets were turned out because their own subjects were sick of their misgovernment, and no one wants to try them again. After all, people are not such fools as to prefer tyranny to freedom. The sort of abject superstition on which they rely is very strong, no doubt, till it is shaken, but after it has once been upset you can no more restore it than you can set up Humpty-Dumpty again. Legitimism, as you call it, is not a popular sentiment; it is only the fad of a clique of aristocrats who are played out themselves. Such men do not make revolutions.” Stuart made no attempt to resist this reasoning. “Then you consider that Don Juan would have no chance?” “I never thought he had a chance of making himself King, if that is what you mean. The only question I have to consider is whether it would pay me to give him a run.” And seeing Stuart’s bewilderment, the financier added: “I haven’t been thinking of the mines and the railways. An attempt of this kind, if it looked at all serious, would send down the price of every investment in the country, and if I knew of it beforehand, I should be able to make enough out of my knowledge to repay whatever I gave your friend. I should never expect to get it back from him.” “Then why won’t you give him the run?” “I will tell you why. Because those who are behind him, those from whom Des Louvres is pretty sure to have his instructions, are simply putting this poor young fellow forward to gain something for themselves, and they will push him on or call him back to suit their own purpose.” “Whom do you mean?” “I mean what Disraeli meant--and he was not altogether a fool--when he said there were only two powers at the bottom of everything that happened in Europe--the Church and the secret societies. In this case it is not the Freemasons.” “Then what do you suggest the Church has to gain?” “I don’t think it matters. Perhaps there is some quarrel on between the Pope and the reigning dynasty; perhaps there has been a movement to suppress the monasteries or to expel the Jesuits--I don’t know. I haven’t been following their recent history. But you may take it from me that the Vatican has some motive for putting pressure on somebody or some party in the country, and that Don Juan is to be used as the red light.” Alistair could not resist the conviction that Mendes was probably right. He did not feel any personal interest in the matter one way or the other, except as it affected the chance of his being able to take part in an interesting adventure. He had, perhaps, a slight friendliness left for the Church of Rome; at all events, he would have felt no reluctance to fight its battles as long as in so doing he was fighting against the social system for which Mendes stood.