Arabella Stuart. G. P. R. James

George Brooke, with a bitter laugh.

      "Yes, on my life," answered the ambassador; "and it is, that there cannot be the slightest doubt his Majesty the King will at once consent to supply the money you require, if you give him the assurances which I have pointed out. Nay, more," he added, in a quiet tone, "should need be, he will, I, feel very sure, furnish you with a body of soldiers sufficient to take the field at once."

      "No, no," cried George Brooke, "no Spanish soldiers in England, noble Count. The people have not yet forgot some late passages, in which the Spanish soldiers and the English were less friendly than is pleasant. They did nothing, it is true, but cut each other's throats; but still that does not cement amity."

      "They need not be Spanish soldiers," said Count Aremberg, in reply; "they may be from Flanders."

      "Still they will be the troops of a foreign sovereign," answered Lord Cobham.

      "Not if you raise and pay them yourselves," said Count Aremberg, always bearing in view the strong inclination of the Spanish crown to regain a hold upon England.

      "That might be done, it is true," said George Brooke; "but that is an after consideration; the present question is about the money. If we once have means of engaging a sufficient number, by showing them that we have strong support, and that the enterprise is feasible, we may seize upon James, confine him in the Tower, and, with the command of the capital, which we shall certainly possess, we have little resistance to fear. An outbreak may take place here or there amongst the Scotchman's friends in the country, but they will be speedily suppressed. The two Howards must remain neuter; for, though their inclination would lead them to James, their religion will bind them to us. Northumberland, though he will not begin the strife, will go with us heart and soul when it is begun; and so will a thousand other noble gentlemen, who have long suffered in their faith, or in their persons. Others, again, will be upon our side, from hatred to the Scotch, and disgust at the swine that Scotland has sent us. The great body of the church will go with us; for ambition is the great vice of the ecclesiastics, and the reestablishment of the Romish hierarchy must naturally open to them a thousand new roads to their end. Many a sober Protestant parson regrets the confessional, and the mass, and the procession, and the embroidered garments, and the lordly rule of each priest in his parish; and we should have thousands gladly coming back to the good old days of Rome. But the question is now, how are we to get the means of setting the enterprise agoing? James's movements are uncertain; on Monday he will be at the Charter House; on Wednesday or Thursday at the Tower; where he may be a fortnight hence no one can tell. You cannot count upon a reply from Spain under six weeks, and it is necessary to secure the bird while he is in the net. Six weeks' delay will be ruinous."

      Count Aremberg paused and mused, and, after waiting for a minute or two, in expectation of his reply, Lord Cobham exclaimed, "Unless we can have some certainty in less time than that, it were better to give the whole thing up, and think no more of it."

      "If the question be but regarding the money," said the Count, "I doubt not the Archduke can settle that point at once. I believe that, sooner than suffer a scheme for delivering his fellow Catholics from the yoke under which they now groan, to fail, he would advance the sum out of his private treasury."

      "Although that may cause some delay," said George Brooke, "still it will not present such an obstacle as the other plan. If this can be done, then, and your Excellency is enabled by the next courier from Brussels to treat definitely, we will go on, and obtain for you the assurances you require from the Lady Arabella. If not, I fear the enterprise must fall to the ground."

      "I will write immediately," replied Aremberg, "and send the dispatch by a trusty messenger."

      "It were well," said George Brooke, "that he were accompanied by some one on our part. What think you, Cobham--will Watson go?"

      "Nay, Clarke is the shrewder of the two," replied his brother.

      "Settle that between yourselves as you like, gentlemen," said Count Aremberg, with the appearance of perfect indifference--though, to say truth, he was not at all disinclined that a great part of the responsibility of the transaction should be removed from his own shoulders, and that he should escape the necessity of committing himself on some delicate points in writing. "Choose your messenger discreetly, and in my dispatch I will refer to him as intrusted by certain English lords and gentlemen to convey their opinions upon various points to the Archduke. Now, however, I will hie me home, for I have been some time absent; and it must not be forgotten that I am at this moment sick in bed."

      "I wish your Excellency a happy delivery," cried George Brooke, with one of his light laughs. "I shall come and inquire after the baby in a day or two."

      "I trust it may be a stout and healthy child," replied Count Aremberg, in the same tone, "and at all events we will baptize it in the Catholic faith."

      Thus saying, he took up a large cloak which lay on the back of one of the chairs, enveloped himself completely in its folds, and, lighted by George Brooke, descended the stairs, at the bottom of which he was joined by a man dressed as a servant, who was called from a little room at the side. Without a farther word, but "Good night," the ambassador issued forth into the street, and walked along for some way, with the man close beside him.

      "What have you learnt, Gonzalez?" he asked at length, in Spanish, looking up and down the street by the moonlight, and seeing that no one was near.

      "According to their showing, your Excellency, full one-third of the inhabitants of London are prepared to rise, and more than one-half of the country. Making a little allowance for exaggeration, the discontent seems to be very extensive, and likely to spread."

      "What did they give you?" demanded Count Aremberg.

      "Fifty gold angels," replied the man, after a short pause.

      "Ha!" said the Count, "are you sure they did not discover you for what you are?"

      "Quite certain," he replied; "for though they were civil in the matter of the money, the two priests kept me standing all the time."

      "Then his Holiness is determined the matter shall proceed," said Aremberg. "Fifty angels to a serving-man do not come from two poor conspirators, or two persecuted Catholic priests. It may, perhaps, turn out something of importance, after all."

CHAPTER VIII.

       Table of Contents

      On the confines of Hampshire and Wiltshire, at the distance of about twenty miles from Salisbury, was a good house belonging formerly to the Dowager Countess of Lennox, surrounded by a park of nearly a thousand acres, paled in from the neighbouring country on account of some very fine deer which it contained. The hand of nature had done far more for it than art, and nothing could be more beautiful than the variety of hill and dale, of forest, fell and mead, which it displayed. It is true no mountains were there, no bold and rocky scenery; but it was full of rich old woods, deep ferny dells, and constant heights and falls of ground, which compelled a considerable stream swarming with fine trout to wander in a thousand turns and bends, so that its course through the park, if traced along its meanderings, could not extend to less than many miles in length.

      The woodpecker and the squirrel found there a home to their utmost satisfaction; multitudes of hares, whose possession was only disputed by the herds of deer, might be found sleeping in their forms on the sunny sides of the hill, or seen galloping along when disturbed, ever and anon standing raised upon their hind feet, and listening with erected ear for any sound of pursuit; while towards the close of evening, the rabbits, in a part especially called the Warren, came out to play in thousands, like schoolboys issuing forth for sport after the tasks of the day are ended.

      In this park, in the month of June, and towards the hour of nine in the morning, a lady was sitting on the grass under the trees, at a considerable distance from the house. The spot she had chosen was the side of one of the little hills, which was crowned by a clump of old oaks, and looking down over a considerable