"Dear Lord!" he exclaimed. "Do you mean that he may be still idle at St. Helens?"
"It may be—the advice packets last reported that he had not moved, and that M. de Tourville was beyond the Needles."
"Oh, were I on board," cried Monmouth, "there should be a battle—I pledge my life on it!"
Mary was perfectly pale; she still held her fan to her lips and sat silent, so motionless that it seemed as if she scarcely breathed.
"He had positive orders to fight," said Godolphin.
"Oh, my lord," answered Marlborough sweetly, "is it not believed that this invasion is in concert with these plots among the malcontents?"
"Do you mean that Lord Torrington is a traitor?" asked Caermarthen bluntly; he gave Marlborough a glance that conveyed he thought him one.
The Queen dropped her fan and clenched it tightly in her right hand.
"Gentlemen, this is no time for these insinuations, with the enemy on the coast. We," she said proudly and courageously—"we trust all those in our service, and have faith in God who hath it all in His keeping."
She paused; the effort of speaking had brought the colour into her face, her eyes sparkled, and the western sunlight trembled in her auburn hair. They waited silently, watching her with curiosity and some judgment. She was principally conscious of the malignant smiling eyes of my Lord Marlborough.