Next night there was high feasting at Westminster. Weeks ago at Holyrood Monk's butler had promised the staff a bottle of wine at Whitehall on Candlemas Day. He was a wag whom Charles the First had mock-knighted one evening at supper with his table-knife in the old days at Oxford. It was only a day late, and "Sir" Ralph Mort was called on to pay his wager as the general sat with the Coldstreamers in the "Prince's Apartment" rejoicing at the success of their move. Everything had gone well. Days before at Nottingham the details of the occupation had been arranged, and the troops had quietly marched to their quarters without a hitch. True the Coldstreamers' reception had not been enthusiastic. In vain had Monk ridden down Chancery Lane and the Strand at the head of his army, with trumpeters and led horses and all the pomp of a general in the field. In vain was his staff swelled by a brilliant crowd of gaily-dressed gentlemen. For the thoughtful the general's intentions were too dark: for the thoughtless his troops were too shabby; and the entry was made with the cold precision of an operation of war. CHAPTER XII ON THE WINGS OF THE STORM With Monk's success his real difficulties began. His first act was to attend the Council of State. The Oath of Abjuration was tendered to him and he refused it. A third of the Council had done the same, and amongst them irreproachable Republicans. He suggested a conference between the two parties to settle the point. For the present he certainly could not take it. He must consult the Coldstreamers. "The officers of my army," he said, and his words must have sounded strangely like a threat, "are very tender in taking oaths." So he returned to his apartments to be besieged with callers. Politicians were there eager for a word on which to work, and astute foreign ministers at their wits' end what to report to their respective governments. For every one a discreet answer had to be provided. All Sunday the game continued with little relief, except a secret information that Scot's son had been boasting how in a few days the general would be in the Tower with his head in danger.