“I think we understand each other,” remarked the Abbe.  “You say the king has employed you to set a figure, and that you are to take the solution to him to-night?”

“Monsieur l’Abbe is correct,” returned Lilly.

“I hope the stars may see fit to advise the king to accept my first offer, for it will be the last,” said the Abbe.  “Possibly the stars may show that in case King Charles sells Dunkirk to London even for a much larger sum than I shall offer, he may be compelled to spend the money and a great deal more in defending the city.”

“True, true,” agreed Lilly.

“Possibly the stars may indicate that King Louis loves war,” continued the Abbe.  “They may show that if King Charles refuses my master’s offer, England may be compelled to give up Dunkirk for nothing, or spend a vast deal of money and blood in defending it.  If the French king lays siege to Dunkirk, the English people will force King Charles to take one of two courses—­defence or abdication.  In the latter case he might lose his head, as his father did before him.  Furthermore, if King Charles refuses my first offer, my master will withdraw, in which case London also will withdraw.  Is it not possible that the stars may tell you all this?”

“The conditions you suggest are so probable that one hardly need ask confirmation of the stars, and so reasonably to be expected are the events you predict that, beyond question, stellar revelation will be in accord with your desires.  But the stars will say what they will say, and I shall give King Charles the truth from whatever source it comes,” said Lilly, lifting his head in righteousness and posing as the embodiment of truth.

“That is all I can ask,” returned the Abbe, rising to close the interview.

“All exceedingly reasonable—­reasonable,” answered Lilly, bowing.

We returned to the parlor, where we found Frances and Bettina awaiting us, not patiently, if I could judge by their looks.  I asked Lilly to allow us to occupy the room undisturbed for an hour while the Abbe gave certain instructions to Frances, but the Doctor did better for us.  He took us to a room enclosed in glass on the roof of his house, where we could be by ourselves with the sun and the sky overhead, and all London beneath us.

To this day I am not sure that Lilly did not know Hamilton, but if he did, he concealed his knowledge completely, feeling, doubtless, that it would be a dangerous bit of information to himself and of no benefit to any one else.  If George should be discovered by the king, Lilly could honestly disclaim knowing him.  If affairs turned to our desire, the Doctor could lose nothing by his ignorance whether pretended or real.  So I doubt not he thanked us for the imposture, if he discovered it.

It is needless to say that Bettina, Frances, George, and I were very pleased to be together once more.  We spent a delightful hour in Lilly’s observatory, where we made our plans for the following day, which will unfold in the order of their occurrence.  A great deal of the time we were all talking at once, but for some strange reason we were all silent when George said laughingly, though nervously, that the French king had sent word to Frances that we would pay her ten thousand pounds if George’s mission proved successful.