His majesty had also written to lord Ormond as follows:  ’And albeit I have too just cause, for the clearing of my honour, to prosecute Glamorgan in a legal way, yet I will have you suspend the execution,’ &c.  At the same time his secretary wrote thus to Ormond and the council:  ‘And since the warrant is not’ ’sealed with the signet,’ &c., &c., ’your lordships cannot but judge it to be at least surreptitiously gotten, if not worse; for his majesty saith he remembers it not;’ and thus again privately to Ormond:  ’The king hath commanded me to advertise your lordship that the patent for making the said lord Herbert of Raglan earl of Glamorgan is not passed the great seal here, so as he is no peer of this kingdom; notwithstanding he styles himself, and hath treated with the rebels in Ireland, by the name of earl of Glamorgan, which is as vainly taken upon him as his pretended warrant (if any such be) was surreptitiously gotten.’  The title had, meanwhile, been used by the king himself in many communications with the earl.

These letters never came, I presume, to the marquis’s knowledge, but they go far to show that his feeling, even were it a little embittered by the memory of their midnight conference and his hopes therefrom, went no farther than the conduct of his majesty justified.  It was no wonder that the straightforward old man, walking erect to ruin for his king, should fret and fume, yea, yield to downright wrath and enforced contempt.

Of the king’s behaviour in the matter, Dorothy, however, knew nothing yet.

One day towards the end of February, a messenger from the king arrived at Raglan, on his way to Ireland to lord Ormond.  He had found the roads so beset—­for things were by this time, whether from the successes of the parliament only, or from the negligence of disappointment on the part of lord Worcester as well, much altered in Wales and on its borders—­that he had been compelled to leave his despatches in hiding, and had reached the castle only with great difficulty and after many adventures.  His chief object in making his way thither was to beg of lord Charles a convoy to secure his despatches and protect him on his farther journey.  But lord Charles received him by no means cordially, for the whole heart of Raglan was sore.  He brought him, however, to his father, who, although indisposed and confined to his chamber, consented to see him.  When Mr. Boteler was admitted, lady Glamorgan was in the chamber, and there remained.

Probably the respect to the king’s messenger which had influenced the marquis to receive him, would have gone further and modified the expression of his feelings a little when he saw him, but that, like many more men, his lordship, although fairly master of his temper-horses when in health, was apt to let them run away with him upon occasion of even slighter illness than would serve for an excuse.

’Hast thou in thy despatches any letters from his majesty to my son Glamorgan, master Boteler?’ he inquired, frowning unconsciously.