"Yes; three men."
"Do they name them?"
"Certainly," said my Lord Marlborough, smiling. "And they join with the three one who is not in power."
"Ah!"
"Myself."
Nothing could exceed the placid indifference, as natural as it was free from exaggeration, which the Earl contrived to throw into his last word. Yet my lord started, and shuffled uneasily in his chair. Knowing something, and perhaps suspecting more, aware of the character which his enemies attributed to Lord Marlborough, he would not have been the statesman he was, if he had not fancied an ulterior design, in an admission not a little embarrassing. He confined himself, therefore, to a polite shrug expressive of incredulity, and to the words "Credat Judæus."
"Just so," said Lord Marlborough, whose erudition was not on a par with the marvellous strategical powers he has since displayed. "What, then, will your Grace say--to Ned Russell?"
"The First Lord of the Admiralty? Is he named?"
"In the coffee-houses."
"Ah!"