IN WARSAW ae

result. With the Jewish traders his success was less de-
cided. They admitted that it would be a great misfortune
were Warsaw taken by the Swedes, but as Poles they re-
tained their confidence in the national army, and were
altogether sceptical that a few thousand Swedes could with-
stand the host that could be put in the field against them.
Several of them pointedly asked what interest they had in
the matter, and to some of these Charlie was obliged to
use his power of promising sums of money in case of
SUCCESS.

There were one or two, however, of whom he felt doubt-
ful. Chief among these was Ben Soloman Muller, a man
of great influence in the Jewish community. ‘This man had
placed so large a value upon his services that Charlie did
not feel justified in promising him such a sum. He did
not like the man’s face, and did not rely upon the promises
of silence he had given before the mission was revealed to
him. It was for this reason principally that he determined
to go into lodgings. Should he be denounced, serious
trouble might fall upon Allan Ramsay, and it would at least
minimize this risk were he not living at his house when he
was arrested. Ramsay himself was disposed to make light
of the danger.

“T believe myself that Ben Soloman is an old rogue, but
he is nota fool. He cannot help seeing that the position
of the king is precarious, and were he to cause your arrest
he might get little thanks and no profit, while he would be
incurring the risk of the vengeance of Charles should he
ever become master of the town. Did he have you arrested
he himself would be forced to appear as a witness against
you, and this he could hardly do without the matter becom-
ing publicly known. I do not say, however, that if he
could curry favour with the king’s party by doing you harm
without appearing in the matter, he would hesitate for a
moment. Even if you were arrested here, I doubt whether