"My lord," he said, closing the door softly and returning, "let this mutiny fail! It will serve its purpose if it brings home to the understanding of Englishmen the iniquity of this plague of Dutchmen. Let that feeling ripen. You will return before the winter, and by that time you may strike boldly. Then, from your place in the House of Lords, you can move an address—"
"Go on," murmured the Earl, as he paused for a moment.
"—An address praying that all foreigners may be dismissed from his Majesty's service."
The Earl looked up swiftly and checked his fingers, which had been drumming on the table.
"Decidedly you are intelligent," he said very slowly.
"What can William do if that address is carried, as it may be? To yield will be to discard his dearest friends: to resist will mean a national rising. He will lose his crown."
"And then?"
"My lord, may it not be possible to eject William without restoring James?"
"Ah!"
"There is the Princess Anne."