Clementina

"But a dream I'll dream so hard, sir, that I'll dream it true," cried

Wogan, in despair.

"No, no," said the Chevalier. "We'll talk no more of it. There's God's

will evident in this arrest, and we must bend to it;" and at once Wogan

remembered his one crowning argument. It was so familiar to his

thoughts, it had lain so close at his heart, that he had left it

unspoken, taking it as it were for granted that others were as familiar

with it as he.

"Sir," said he, eagerly, "I have never told you, but the Princess

Clementina when a child amongst her playmates had a favourite game. They

called it kings and queens. And in that game the Princess was always

chosen Queen of England."

The Chevalier started.

"Is that so?" and he gazed into Wogan's eyes, making sure that he spoke

the truth.

"In very truth it is," and the two men stood looking each at the other

and quite silent.

It was the truth, a mere coincidence if you will, but to both these men

omens and auguries were the gravest matters.

"There indeed is God's finger pointing," cried Wogan. "Sir, give me

leave to follow it."

The Chevalier still stood looking at him in silence. Then he said

suddenly, "Go, then, and God speed you! You are a gallant gentleman."

He sat down thereupon and wrote a letter to the King of Poland, asking

him to entrust the rescue of his daughter into Wogan's hands. This

letter Wogan took and money for his journey.

"You will have preparations to make," said the Chevalier. "I will not

keep you. You have horses?"

Mr. Wogan had two in a stable at Bologna. "But," he added, "there is a

horse I left this morning six miles this side of Fiesole, a black horse,

and I would not lose it."

"Nor shall you," said the Chevalier.

Wogan crept back to his lodging as cautiously as he had left it. There

was no light in any window but in his own, where his servant, Marnier,

awaited him. Wogan opened the door softly and found the porter asleep in

his chair. He stole upstairs and made his preparations. These, however,

were of the simplest kind, and consisted of half-a-dozen orders to

Marnier and the getting into bed. In the morning he woke before daybreak

and found Marnier already up. They went silently out of the house as

the dawn was breaking. Marnier had the key to the stables, and they

saddled the two horses and rode through the blind and silent streets

with their faces muffled in their cloaks.