"Late to-night or early to-morrow. He rested a few hours in London, while I rode through, else I shouldn't have been here before him."
"And why are you come, my lord?" she asked.
"To serve you, madame," he answered simply.
She drew herself up, saying haughtily,
"You were not so ready to serve me at Dover."
Carford was not disconcerted by an attack that he must have foreseen; he had the parry ready for the thrust.
"From the danger that I knew I guarded you, the other I did not know." Then with a burst of well-feigned indignation he cried, "By Heaven, but for me the French King would have been no peril to you; he would have come too late."
She understood him and flushed painfully.
"When the enemy is mighty," he pursued, "we must fight by guile, not force; when we can't oppose we must delay; we must check where we can't stop. You know my meaning: to you I couldn't put it more plainly. But now I have spoken plainly to the Duke of Monmouth, praying something from him in my own name as well as yours. He is a noble Prince, madame, and his offence should be pardoned by you who caused it. Had I thwarted him openly, he would have been my enemy and yours. Now he is your friend and mine."
The defence was clever enough to bridle her indignation. He followed up his advantage swiftly, leaving her no time to pry for a weak spot in his pleading.