Here was a very pretty dispute, with sense on both sides, and yet there appeared to me that there was more on His Majesty's than on the other. If even then Dr. Tonge had been sent for and soundly rated, and made to produce his informant, and the matter sifted, I believe we should have heard no more of it. But it was not ordained so. They all spoke a good deal, appealing to the two priests--Mr. Bedingfeld and Mr. Young--and they both gave their opinions. Presently Charles was silent; letting his chair come forward again on to its four legs, and putting his head in his hands over the table. I had never seen him so perturbed before. Then I ventured on a question. "Sir, may I ask who is Doctor Tonge's informant?" His Majesty glanced up at me as if he saw me for the first time. "Tell him, Chiffinch," he said. "His name is Doctor Oates," said the page. "He was a Papist once, and is turned informer, he says. He still feigns secretly to be friends with one or two of the Jesuits, he says." "But every word you hear here is _sub sigillo_, Mr. Mallock," added the King. I knew no such name; and said no more. I had never heard of the man. "Have you anything to say, Mr. Mallock?" asked the King presently. "I have some reports to hand in, Sir," I said, "but they do not bear directly upon this matter." The King lifted his heavy eyes and let them fall again. He appeared weary and dispirited. * * * * * When we broke up at last, nothing was decided. On the one hand the letters were not destroyed, and the Duke was still unforbidden to pursue his researches; and, on the other there was no permission for a public inquiry to be held. The counsels, in short, were divided; and that is the worst state of all. The Duke said nothing to me, either at the table or before he went out with Mr. Bedingfeld--or Mr. Mumford as he was usually called: he appeared to consider me too young to be of any importance, and to tolerate me only because the King wished it. I handed to Mr. Chiffinch the reports of what folks had said to me in taverns and elsewhere: and went away. The days went by; and nothing of any importance appeared further. I still frequented the company of the Jesuit Fathers, and the taverns as before; but no more was heard, until a few days before the end of September. On that day I was passing through the Court of Whitehall to see if there were anything for me at Mr. Chiffinch's--for the King was at Windsor again--when I saw Father Whitbread and Father Ireland, coming swiftly out from the way that led to the Duke's lodgings--for he stayed here a good deal during these days. They were talking together, and did not see me till I was close upon them. When I greeted them, they stopped all of a sudden. "The very man!" said Mr. Whitbread.