The captain of the frigate advanced toward the group of gentlemen: "Gentlemen, I have just received the orders of his grace."
"Well?" all said with one voice.
"His highness will receive you at eleven o'clock precisely; that is to say, in exactly five minutes."
It is impossible to give any idea of the exclamations of profound joy which escaped from every breast.
"Hold! now, Dick, I feel myself growing faint," said Mortimer.
"The devil! pay attention, Percy," said Rothsay; "do not fall; you are one of my legs."
"I," said Dudley, "I have a sort of vertigo——"
"Listen, Dick; listen, Jocelyn," said Mortimer; "these worthy companions have never seen our duke; be generous, let them go first; we shall see him first from a distance; that will give us time to place ourselves in his sight. Is it done?"
"Yes, yes," said Dick and Jocelyn.
Eleven o'clock sounded. For some moments the deck of the frigate offered a spectacle truly grand. The soldiers and marines in arms covered the gangways. The officers, bareheaded, preceding the gentlemen, slowly descended the narrow stairway which led to the apartment appropriated to the Duke of Monmouth.