Now it may be wondered perhaps how it was that I, who was so young, should be entrusted with such matters as these.  Here then, I am bound to say, however immodest it may appear, that I have had always the art of making friends easily and of commending myself quickly.  I had lived too in the societies of both Paris and Rome; and I had the accomplishments of a gentleman as well as his blood.  I was thought a pleasant fellow, that is to say, who could make himself agreeable; and I certainly had too—­and I am not ashamed to say this—­but one single ambition in the world, and that was to serve God’s cause:  and these things do not always go together in this world.  Last of all, it must be observed, that no very weighty secrets were entrusted to me:  I bore no letters; and I had been told no more of affairs in general than such as any quick and intelligent man might pick up for himself.  Even should I prove untrustworthy or indiscreet, or even turn traitor, no very great harm would be done.  If, upon the other hand, I proved ready and capable, all that I could learn in England and, later perhaps, in France, would serve me well in the carrying out of weightier designs that might then be given into my charge.

Such then I was; and such was my mission, on this fifteenth day of June, as I rode up with James my man—­a servant found for me in Rome, who had once been in the service of my Lord Stafford—­to the door of the lodgings engaged for me in Covent Garden Piazza above a jeweller’s shop.

* * * * *

It was after sunset that we came there; and all the way along the Strand, until we nearly reached the York Stairs, I had said nothing to my man, but had used my eyes instead, striving to remember what I could of seven years before.  The houses of great folk were for the most part on my left—­Italianate in design, with the river seen between them, and lesser houses, of the architecture that is called “magpie,” on the right.  The way was very foul, for there had been rain that morning, and there seemed nothing to carry the filth away:  in places faggots had been thrown down to enable carts to pass over.  The Strand was very full of folk of all kinds going back to their houses for supper.

Covent Garden Piazza was a fairer place altogether.  It was enclosed in railings, and a sun-dial stood in the centre; and on the south was the space for the market, with a cobbled pavement.  To the east of St. Paul’s Church stood the greater houses, built on arcades, where many fashionable people of the Court lived or had their lodgings, and it was in one of these that I too was to lodge:  for I had bidden my Cousin Jermyn to do the best he could for me, and his letter had reached me at Dover, telling me to what place I was to come.

As I sat on my horse, waiting while my man went in to one of the doorways to inquire, a gentleman ran suddenly out of another, with no hat on his head.

“Why, you are my Cousin Roger, are you not?” he cried from the steps.