He led the way down a narrow staircase to a little room on the ground floor, which had for its other entrance a door giving on a tiny paved garden. It was lined with books and a small fire had been lit on the hearth.
“Here we shall be secure, for I alone have the keys,” Lord Cornbury said, taking a seat by a bureau where the single lamp was behind his head. “You have something private for my ear? I must tell you, sir, I have been plagued for many months by portentous secret emissaries. There was my lord Clancarty, a Cyclops with one eye and a shocking perruque, who seemed to me not wholly in possession of his wits. There was a Scotch gentleman—Bahaldy—Bohaldy—whom I suspected of being a liar. There was Traquair, whose speech rang false in every stutter. They and their kind were full of swelling words, but they were most indisputably fools. You are not of their breed, sir. From you I look for candour and good sense. What have you to say to me?”
“One thing only, my lord. From me you will get no boasts or promises. I bring you a summons.”
Alastair took from his breast a letter. Lord Cornbury broke the seal and revealed a page of sprawling irregular handwriting, signed at the foot with the words “Charles P.” He read it with attention, read it again, and then looked at the messenger.
“His Royal Highness informs me that I will be ‘inexcusable before God and men’ if I fail him. For him that is a natural opinion. Now, sir, before answering this appeal, I have certain questions to ask you. You come from the Prince’s army, and you are in the secrets of his Cabinet. You are also a soldier. I would hear from you the Prince’s strength.”
“He can cross the Border with not less than five thousand horse and foot.”
“Highlanders?”
“In the main, which means the best natural fighting stock in this land. They have already shown their prowess against Cope’s regulars. There are bodies of Lowland horse with Elcho and Pitsligo.”
“And your hopes of increment?”
“More than half the clans are still to raise. Of them we are certain. There are accessions to be looked for from the Lowlands. In England we have promises from every quarter—from Barrymore, Molyneux, Grosvenor, Fenwick, Petre, Cholmondeley, Leigh, Curzon in the North; from the Duke of Beaufort and Sir Watkin Wynn in the West. Likewise large sums of money are warranted from the city of London.”
“You speak not of sympathy only, but of troops? Many are no doubt willing to drink His Royal Highness’s health.”
“I speak of troops. There is also the certain aid from France. In this paper, my lord, you will find set down the numbers and dates of troops to be dispatched before Christmas. Some are already on the way—Lord John Drummond with his regiment of Royal Ecossais and certain Irish companies from the French service.”
“And you have against you?”
“In Scotland—nothing. In England at present not ten thousand men. Doubtless they will make haste to bring back troops from abroad, but before that we hope to conquer. His Royal Highness’s plan is clear. He seeks as soon as possible to win a victory in England. In his view the land is for the first comer. The nation is indifferent and will yield to boldness. I will be honest with you, my lord. He hopes also to confirm the loyalty of France, for it is certain that if his arms triumph but once on English soil, the troops of King Louis will take the sea.”
The other mused. “It is a bold policy, but it may be a wise one. I would raise one difficulty. You have omitted from your calculation the British Fleet.”
Alastair shrugged his shoulders. “It is our prime danger, but we hope with speed and secrecy to outwit it.”
“I have another objection. You are proposing to conquer England with a foreign army. I say not a word against the valour of your Highland countrymen, but to English eyes they are barbarous strangers. And France is the ancient enemy.”
“Then, my lord, it is a strife of foreigner against foreigner. Are King George’s Dutch and Danes and Hessians better Englishmen than the Prince’s men? Let England abide the issue, and join the victor.”
“You speak reasonably, I do not deny it. Let me ask further. Has any man of note joined your standard?”
“Many Scots nobles, though not the greatest. But Hamilton favours us, and there are grounds for thinking that even the Whig dukes, Argyll and Montrose and Queensberry, are soured with the Government. It is so in England, my lord. Bedford …”
“I know, I know. All are waiting on the tide. But meantime His Royal Highness’s Cabinet is a rabble of Irishmen. Is it not so? I do not like to have Teague in the business, sir, and England does not like it.”
“Then come yourself, my lord.”
Lord Cornbury smiled. “I have not finished my questions. What of his Royal Highness’s religion? I take it that it is the same as your own.”
“He has already given solemn pledges for liberty and toleration. Many Presbyterians of the straitest sect are in his camp. Be sure, my lord, that he will not be guilty of his grandfather’s blunder.”
Lord Cornbury rose and stood with his back to the fire.
“You are still in the military stage, where your first duty is a victory in the field. What does His Royal Highness wish me to do? I am no soldier, I could not raise a dozen grooms and foresters. I do not live in Sir Watkin’s county, where you can blow a horn and summon a hundred rascals. Here in Oxfordshire we are peaceable folk.”
“He wants you in his Council. I am no lover of the
