Having anticipated the possible necessity for quick action at the proper time, George had brought with him two copies of a treaty, written in Latin.  He brought also plenary authority from the French king, under the great Seal of France, authorizing Monsieur l’Abbe du Boise to sign, execute, and deliver the treaty on the part of France and to receive in return the treaty to be executed by the English king.  He also bore authority to make and deliver to King Charles a bill of exchange on Backwell, the goldsmith, for the purchase money of Dunkirk.  Thus all would be ready for immediate conclusion the moment King Charles accepted the French king’s offer.

That night near the hour of one o’clock, Lilly called by appointment to see me at De Grammont’s house, coming from Whitehall, where he had been closeted with the king for three or four hours, explaining to his Majesty the message of the stars as read by the light of two thousand pounds.

“I explained to his Majesty,” said Lilly, “that in all my calculations and observations, Mars intruded with alarming persistency in conjunction with King Louis’s star.  I tried to show him that the recurrences of this untoward conjunction were so rapid and constant as to denote war at a very early date if conditions were not affected at once by the intervention of the messenger, Mercury, whose sign fortunately accompanied each unfortuitous conjunction.  The king, though pretending to be learned in the noble art of astrology, asked me to translate my solution, and I did so, almost in the words of Monsieur l’Abbe this afternoon.”

“Thank you,” remarked George.

“No, no, do not thank me,” said Lilly, disclaiming all credit.  “What Monsieur said was so reasonable and fitted so aptly to the probable conditions of the future, read in the terrestrial light of the present, sound reason, that it was hardly necessary to ask the stars.  But in compliance with the king’s request, I set my figure and found, as usual, that the revelations of the stars coincided with the dictates of reason.  It is true the stars sometimes forecast events which seem almost impossible in view of present conditions, but the questioner of the heavens who does not use his reason to help his interpretation of the stars is, to say the least, far from wise.”

“Yes,” interrupted the Abbe.  “But come to the point!  What did the king say?”

“He did not entirely accept the message of the stars,” returned Lilly.  “He does not seem to object to war.  He says there is no time when it is as easy to raise money from the people as in times of war.  I suggested that money in the nation’s treasury was not in the privy purse, where the king most wants it.  But he said it was only a short journey from the treasury to the privy purse, and—­well, I agreed with him.  If you want to convert a vain, stubborn fool to your way of thinking, don’t let him know what your way is.”

“So the stars have failed?” asked the Abbe.