“Ah, but how will you get away from the closet?” I asked.

“If he will permit me to be the messenger, I can easily escape, but for fear he will not, you and George shall act as my watermen.  Have a boat waiting for me near the garden stairs at nine o’clock, and we’ll go by river to the king’s private stairs.  I’ll go by myself to his closet and will come back to you by some means with the signed treaty.  And, Baron Ned, have Betty with you.  A woman is always braver with a woman alongside, and Betty always brings us good luck.  Then, too, she can steer the boat; she knows the river as she knows her father’s house.  Remember, nine o’clock, and be sure that Betty is with you.”

I went back to George, and when I told him of Frances’s plan, he said:—­

“If she does not return from the king’s closet as soon as we shall have reason to expect her, we’ll fetch her and make a page of history by leaving a dead king.”

“In which case the English people would hang us and then bless us.  It is their fashion.  We should be as immortal as Guy Fawkes,” I answered; laughing to keep my courage up.

George stood in revery for a moment and answered as if he were speaking to himself:—­

“But what will happen if we are overpowered in the king’s closet?  He always keeps a ruffian guard in his ante-chamber.”

“In that sad case, Frances must kill herself and we shall die fighting unless we preferred Tyburn Hill a day or two later,” I answered.  “It is all as plain as day.  Why do you not forget that failure is possible?  I have never known you to stand in doubt; why do it now on the eve of victory?”

“Frances!  Frances!  Frances!  She is why I stand in doubt.  My own life is not worth a farthing, but I have no right to bring her into this frightful peril.”

“She has no fear, and the sooner you drive it out of your heart the better it will be for our cause.”

“I suppose you are right, Baron Ned,” he responded with a sigh; “if we go at this without fear or doubt we can’t fail.  Go ahead, my friend.  May God forgive us if we are wrong and help us in any case.”  And I left him hurriedly, lest I should be infected with his deadly fear.

I next saw Betty, much to my delight, and of course she was eager to help us.

“Know the river?” she exclaimed, in answer to my question.  “I know it as well as I know Gracious Street.  I have shot the arches of London Bridge with the spring tide going out, and there is many a waterman who would not dare try it.  If need be, I’ll take you through the middle arch, where the flambeau hangs, and land you at Deptford or Sheerness, or Holland, I care not which.”  So there was no fear in her heart.  If courage was the touchstone of fortune, we were sure to win, for there was no fear in any heart save George’s, and ordinarily he was the bravest of us all.

When all arrangements were made, even to engaging a small boat, which was to wait for us at Westminster stairs, I took to my bed for the rest of the day.  At six o’clock I received the treaties and the bill of exchange from Hamilton and delivered them to Frances.  Then I went to fetch Bettina.