"Reservations! Kings are not served with reservations, sir." He made me angry. Had the Duke said what he did, I would have taken it with a dutiful bow and a silent tongue. But who was this priest to rate me in such a style? My temper banished my prudence, and, bending my head towards him, I answered: "Yet the Crown itself is worn with these reservations, sir, and the King himself allows them." For a moment nobody spoke. Then Arlington said, "I fear, sir, Mr Dale is as yet less a courtier than an honest gentleman." The Duke rose to his feet. "I have found no fault with Mr Dale," said he haughtily and coldly, and, taking no more heed of me, he walked away, while Hudleston, having bestowed on me an angry glance, followed him. "Mr Dale, Mr Dale!" whispered Arlington, and with no more than that, although still with a smile, he slipped his arm out of mine and left me, beckoning Darrell to go with him. Darrell obeyed with a shrug of despair. I was alone--and, as it seemed, ruined. Alas, why must I blurt out my old lessons as though I had been standing again at my father's knee and not in the presence of the Duke of York? Yes, my race was run before it was begun. The Court was not the place for me. In great bitterness I flung myself down on the cushions and sat there, out of heart and very dismal. A moment passed; then the curtain behind me was drawn aside, and an amused laugh sounded in my ear as I turned. A young man leapt over the couch and threw himself down beside me, laughing heartily and crying, "Well done, well done! I'd have given a thousand crowns to see their faces!" I sprang to my feet in amazement and confusion, bowing low, for the young man by me was the Duke of Monmouth. "Sit, man," said he, pulling me down again. "I was behind the curtain, and heard it all. Thank God, I held my laughter in till they were gone. The liberties of the Kingdom and the safety of the Reformed Religion! Here's a story for the King!" He lay back, seeming to enjoy the jest most hugely. "For the love of heaven, sir," I cried, "don't tell the King! I'm already ruined." "Why, so you are, with my good uncle," said he. "You're new to Court, Mr Dale?" "Most sadly new," I answered in a rueful tone, which set him laughing again. "You hadn't heard the scandalous stories that accuse the Duke of loving the Reformed Religion no better than the liberties of the Kingdom?" "Indeed, no, sir." "And my Lord Arlington? I know him! He held your arm, to the last, and he smiled to the last?" "Indeed, sir, my lord was most gentle to me." "Aye, I know his way. Mr Dale, for this entertainment let me call you friend. Come then, we'll go to the King with it." And, rising, he seized me by the arm and began to drag me off. "Indeed your Grace must pardon me----" I began. "But indeed I will not," he persisted. Then he suddenly grew grave as he said, "I am for the liberties of the Kingdom and the safety of the Reformed Religion. Aren't we friends, then?"