Chapter 9 - Page 2

desolating villages filled with maddened men and shrieking women and
children, does not set my blood in a flame as it does the blood of a
man who is born for victorious slaughter. I loathe so the slaughter
that I hate the victory. No; there are other things I can do better for
England, and be happier in doing them."

"I have known that," said the Captain-General, "even when I have seen
you sweep by, followed by your men, at your most splendid moment. I
have known it most when we have sate together and talked--as 'tis not
my way to talk to much older men."

They had so talked together, and upon matters much more important than
the world knew. His Grace of Marlborough's years had been given to
other things than letters. He could win a great victory with far
greater ease than he could pen the dispatch announcing it when 'twas
gained. "Of all things," he once said to his Duchess, "I do not love
writing." He possessed the faculty of using all men and things that
came into his way, and there were times when he found of value the
services of a young nobleman whose education and abilities were of the
highest, and who felt deeply honoured by his unusual confidence, and
was also silent and discreet both through taste and by nature. Older
men were oftenest privately envious and ambitious; and a man who has
desires for place and power is not to be trusted by one who has gained
the highest and is attacked by jealousy on all sides. This man was
rich, of high rank, and desired nothing his Grace wished to retain;
besides this, his nature was large and so ruled by high honour that
'twas not in him to scheme or parley with schemers. So it befel that,
despite his youth, he enjoyed the privilege of being treated as if his
years had been as ripe as his intellect. He knew and learned many
things. Less was hid from him than from any other man in the army, had
the truth been known. When 'twas a burning necessity for the great man
to cross to England to persuade her Majesty to change her ministers,
Roxholm knew the processes by which the end was reached. He had
knowledge of all the feverish fits through which political England
passed, in greater measure than he himself was conscious of. His
reflections upon the affairs of Portugal and their management, his
belief in the importance of the Emperor's reconciliation with the
Protestants of Hungary, and of many a serious matter, were taken into
consideration and pondered over when he knew it not. In hastening
across the Channel to the English Court, in journeying to Berlin to
encounter great personages, in hearing of and beholding intrigue,
triumphs, disappointments, pomps, and vanities, he studied in the best
possible school the art and