“If I may speak plainly to your majesty,” remarked Charles Radclyffe, “I would say that I have still great doubts. The queen may delude you with false hopes to keep you quiet.”
“Nay, she will keep her promise if she makes it. Of that I am convinced,” said Father Norham.
At this juncture the butler entered to say that luncheon was served, upon which the earl conducted his guest to the dining-room, where a very substantial repast awaited them.
The Chevalier de Saint George had not breakfasted, and his early morning's ride having given him a good appetite, he did ample justice to the broiled trout from the Devil's Water, and the cutlets of Tyne salmon set before him.
As the servants were present during the repast, he was treated merely as an ordinary visitor, and the conversation between him and the earl was conducted entirely in French.
This circumstance excited the suspicion of Mr. Newbiggin, the butler, who from the first had been struck by the stranger's appearance and manner, and he soon became convinced that Mr. Johnson, as the prince was called, was a very important personage.
On quitting the dining-room, the butler found the earl's chief valet in the entrance-hall, and said to him:
“I can't make out this Mr. Johnson, Thirlwall. I should like to know what you think of him?”
“I'm puzzled, I own,” replied the other. “He seems to me like a Frenchman.”
“No more a Frenchman than his lordship is, Thirlwall. But I shouldn't wonder,” said the butler, knowingly, “if he has been brought up at a French court.”