and endeavour to induce them, not only to favour me, but to exert all the influence they possess on my behalf.  As there are many Scotch merchants in the city, you could begin by making yourself known to them, taking with you letters of introduction from your colonel, and any other Scotch gentleman whom you may find to have acquaintanceship, if not with the men themselves, with their families in Scotland.  I do not, of course, say that the mission will be without danger, but that will, I know, be an advantage in your eyes.  What do you think of the proposal?”

“I do not know, sire,” Charlie said doubtfully.  “I have no experience whatever in matters of that kind.”

“This will be a good opportunity for you to serve an apprenticeship,” the king said decidedly.  “There is no chance of anything being done here, for months, and as you will have no opportunity of using your sword, you cannot be better employed than in polishing up your wits.  I will speak to Colonel Jamieson about it this evening.  Count Piper will give you full instructions, and will obtain for you, from some of our friends, lists of the names of the men who would be likely to be most useful to us.  You will please to remember that the brain does a great deal more than the sword, in enabling a man to rise above his fellows.  You are a brave young officer, but I have many a score of brave young officers, and it was your quick wit, in suggesting the strategy by which we crossed the Dwina without loss, that has marked you out from among others, and made me see that you are fit for something better than getting your throat cut.”

The king then changed the subject with his usual abruptness, and dismissed Charlie, at the end of his ride, without any further allusion to the subject.  The young fellow, however, knew enough of the king’s headstrong disposition to be aware that the matter was settled, and that he could not, without incurring the king’s serious displeasure, decline to accept the commission.  He walked back, with a serious face, to the hut that the officers of the company occupied, and asked Harry Jervoise to come out to him.

“What is it, Charlie?” his friend said.  “Has his gracious majesty been blowing you up, or has your horse broken its knees?”

“A much worse thing than either, Harry.  The king appears to have taken into his head that I am cut out for a diplomatist;” and he then repeated to his friend the conversation the king had had with him.

Harry burst into a shout of laughter.

“Don’t be angry, Charlie, but I cannot help it.  The idea of your going, in disguise, I suppose, and trying to talk over the Jewish clothiers and cannie Scotch traders, is one of the funniest things I ever heard.  And do you think the king was really in earnest?”

“The king is always in earnest,” Charlie said in a vexed tone; “and, when he once takes a thing into his head, there is no gainsaying him.”