Captain Royston's troop was of that portion of the army which, after the pomp of entry into Exeter, had been quartered at Honiton. There, waiting at an equal distance from his own home and the city of Exeter, and unable to get so much as an hour's leave of absence, he fretted not a little at his situation, seeing that the further advance might be undertaken at any moment, and he be carried on the martial tide past both those havens his soul was longing after (but it was one in especial, if what he now saith must be believed). Upon the afternoon of that same Sunday whereon Dr. Burnet preached in the cathedral Captain Royston was surprised by a summons to report himself without delay before His Highness at headquarters. The order was brought by M. de Rondiniacque, a young Huguenot gentleman who had been transferred from a lieutenancy in Ginkel's Regiment to the personal staff of the Prince, on account not only of the charm of his manners and the quickness of his parts, but also, it seems, for the esteem in which his family was held by the veteran Count Schomberg, who, with hundreds of other French gentlemen of high birth and the proscribed religion, had left his country and attached himself to His Highness of Orange. M. de Rondiniacque and Captain Royston had long been fast friends, and both were glad of the ride together, and of such conversation as could be had in fifteen miles of wet and mud, travelled with the hard riding M. de Rondiniacque's orders enjoined. Arrived at the Deanery about seven o'clock of the evening, they were summoned at once to His Highness's presence, where they found beside the Prince none but Mr. William Bentinck. In regard to the conversation that here took place, I am the better able to give some account of it that I have two narrations to draw upon--Captain Royston's, namely, and M. de Rondiniacque's. As they entered the room, His Highness, seated at the table, was uttering the last words of a conversation, apparently of some earnestness, with Mr. Bentinck, of which, however, the only words that reached their ears were these: "No, William, no! Where I must trust so much I will trust all. The lad is true, and my interests are his."