The tall man, with a haughty
but irritable face, in the scarlet uniform of a general officer,
was the Earl of Peterborough. There too were Godolphin and Orford,
both leading members of the cabinet; the Earl of Sutherland, the
Dukes of Devonshire and Newcastle, Lord Nottingham, and many
others.
At last the audience was over, and the minister, bowing to all,
withdrew, and the visitors began to leave. A lackey came up to
Rupert and requested him to follow him; and bidding adieu to his
new friends, who both gave him their addresses and begged him to
call up on them, he followed the servant into the hall and upstairs
into a cosy room, such as would now be called a boudoir. There
stood the Earl of Marlborough, by the chair in which a lady of
great beauty and commanding air was sitting.
"Sarah," he said, "this is my young friend, Rupert Holliday, who as
you know did me good service in the midlands."
The countess held out her hand kindly to Rupert, and he bent over
it and touched it with his lips.
"You must remember you are my friend as well as my husband's," she
said. "He tells me you saved his life; and although I can scarce
credit the tale, seeing how young you are, yet courage and skill
dwell not necessarily in great bodies. Truly, Master Holliday, I am
deeply indebted to you; and Sarah Churchill is true in her
friendships."
"As in her hates, eh?" laughed the earl.
Between the Earl of Marlborough and his wife there existed no
common affection.
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