"Well; so I am," said he. "And so are we all. You will be astonished when you see His Majesty."
"Is he so much older?" I asked.
"He has aged five years in one," said he.
We talked presently (after looking through my lodgings again, to see if all were as it should be, and after my thanking Mr. Chiffinch for the pains he had put himself to), first of France and then of Rome. He shewed himself very astute when we spoke of Rome.
"I do not wish to pry," he said, "but I hope to God's sake that the Holy Father hath given you a commission to His Royal Highness, to bid him hold himself more quiet. He will ruin all, if he be not careful."
"Why; how is that?" said I.
"Ah! you ecclesiastics," he cried—"for I count you half an one at least, in spite of your pretty cousin—you are more close than any of us! Well; I will tell you as if you did not know."
He put his fingers together, in his old manner.
"First," said he, "he is Lord High Admiral again. I count that very rash. We are Protestants, we English, you know; and we like not a Papist to be our guard-in-chief."
"You will have to put up with a Papist as a King, some day," said I.