“That I cannot tell you, sir.  We heard all sorts of rumours at Amiens, but it seems that Marlborough had taken up a strong position, and entrenched himself there with seventy thousand men, while Eugene is conducting the siege operations.”

“I don’t understand it,” the baron said, irritably.  “There must be more ways of marching to Lille than one.  If one road is barred, why not advance by another?  The Duke of Burgundy is not with the army now, so the blame cannot be put on him.”

“No, sir; but Berwick’s army is still, as I hear, under his independent command, and the duke, excellent soldier as he is, is not one to be easily led.  If his opinion differs from that of Vendome, he would assuredly maintain it; and as his manner is not conciliatory, and his opinions are very strongly expressed, it may well be that there are, as was rumoured at Amiens, constant dissensions between him and Vendome.”

“Well, it seems to me very strange, Monsieur Kennedy, after having during the last reign defeated the best infantry of Spain, humbled Austria, subdued Bavaria, crushed the enemy in Italy, and shown ourselves to be the best soldiers in Europe; that we should now suffer defeat after defeat, by an army containing men of half a score of nationalities, though led by the greatest general that England has ever produced.”

“And, Baron, with English troops under him who have, for hundreds of years, shown themselves invincible!”

“Yes, yes,” the baron said, hastily.  “We know all about Crecy, Poitiers, and Agincourt; and how well they fought in Holland; but I thought, Kennedy, that you were the enemy of the English, and were here with your brave countrymen to fight against them.”

“Not in my case, assuredly, Baron.  I came over here because there is no opening for Irish gentlemen at home, and because only by the aid of France could our lawful king be placed on the throne.  It is true that a section of the English people, under Oliver Cromwell, not only conquered us, but divided a great portion of our land among themselves; and, although we were again defeated by a usurping Dutch king, with the Dutch troops under his command, that is no reason why I should feel any animosity to the people at large, whose qualities I admire, and the majority of whom are, in their hearts, attached to the cause of the Stuarts, and hate those who are keeping the king from his throne.  I own that I would rather that it had fallen to my lot to fight for France against Spaniards, Germans, and Italians, than against the English.”

“Did you lose many friends at Oudenarde, Monsieur Kennedy?” Anne asked.

“I lost my two greatest friends,” Desmond said.  “At least, I fear that both are dead.  They were the two who escaped with me from the English prison.  They, with Monsieur d’Eyncourt, another of Berwick’s aides-de-camp, started with me to carry orders to the troops, who were all but surrounded by the enemy.  We went by different roads, to increase the chances of one of us getting there.