"Very true; and I have proved to him he was wrong not to say 'Yes.'"
"You told him candidly, I suppose, that La Valliere was deceiving him?"
"Yes, without the slightest reserve; and, as soon as I had done so, he gave a start, as if he were going to clear the Channel at a bound."
"At all events," said Miss Stewart, "he has done something, and a very good thing too, upon my word."
"But," said Buckingham, "I stopped him; I have left him and Miss Mary in conversation together, and I sincerely trust that now he will not leave, as he seemed to have an idea of doing."
"An idea of leaving England?" inquired the king.
"I, at one moment, hardly thought that any human power could have prevented him; but Miss Mary's eyes are now bent fully on him, and he will remain."
"Well, that is the very thing which deceives you, Buckingham," said the king, with a peal of laughter; "the poor fellow is predestined."
"Predestined to what?"
"If it were to be simply deceived, that is nothing: but to look at him, it is a great deal."