There was something peculiar in his tone. I glanced at him, but his broad red face and twinkling eyes told me nothing. “The Italian doctor,” he repeated. “If I had a friend in Captain Percy's predicament, I should bid him beware of the Italian doctor.” “Your friend would be obliged for the warning,” I replied. We walked a little further. “And I think,” he said, “that I should inform this purely hypothetical friend of mine that the Italian and his patron had their heads mighty close together, last night.” “Last night?” “Ay, last night. I went to drink with my lord, and so broke up their tete-a-tete. My lord was boisterous in his cups and not oversecret. He dropped some hints”--He broke off to indulge in one of his endless silent laughs. “I don't know why I tell you this, Captain Percy. I am on the other side, you know,--quite on the other side. But now I bethink me, I am only telling you what I should tell you were I upon your side. There's no harm in that, I hope, no disloyalty to my Lord Carnal's interests which happen to be my interests?” I made no answer. I gave him credit both for his ignorance of the very hornbook of honor and for his large share of the milk of human kindness. “My lord grows restive,” he said, when we had gone a little further. “The Francis and John, coming in yesterday, brought court news. Out of sight, out of mind. Buckingham is making hay while the sun shines. Useth angel water for his complexion, sleepeth in a medicated mask such as the Valois used, and is grown handsomer than ever; changeth the fashion of his clothes thrice a week, which mightily pleaseth his Majesty. Whoops on the Spanish match, too, and, wonderful past all whooping, from the prince's detestation hath become his bosom friend. Small wonder if my Lord Carnal thinks it's time he was back at Whitehall.” “Let him go, then,” I said. “There's his ship that brought him here.” “Ay, there 's his ship,” rejoined Master Pory. “A few weeks more, and the Due Return will be here with the Company's commands. D' ye think, Captain Percy, that there's the slightest doubt as to their tenor?” “No.” “Then my lord has but to possess his soul with patience and wait for the Due Return. No doubt he'll do so.” “No doubt he'll do so,” I echoed. By this we had reached the Secretary's own door. “Fortune favor you with the Paspaheghs!” he said, with another mighty yawn. “As for me, I'll to bed. Do you ever dream, Captain Percy? I don't; mine is too good a conscience. But if I did, I should dream of an Italian doctor.” The door shut upon his red face and bright eyes. I walked rapidly on down the street to the minister's house. The light was very pale as yet, and house and garden lay beneath a veil of mist. No one was stirring. I went on through the gray wet paths to the stable, and roused Diccon. “Saddle Black Lamoral quickly,” I ordered. “There's trouble with the Paspaheghs, and I am off with Master Rolfe to settle it.” “Am I to go with you?” he asked.