THE NORTH COACH 319

“Ts there not some mistake, young gentlemen?” he
asked. ‘‘ My servant gave the names as Captain Jervoise
and Captain Carstairs. J do not recall the names as those
of officers in her majesty’s service.”

“No, my lord, we have the honour to be captains in the
service of King Charles of Sweden, as this document signed
both by his minister, Count Piper, and by the king himself
will testify.”

The duke took the paper and read it.

“The king of Sweden speaks very highly of you both,
gentlemen,” he said cordially. ‘It is no mean credit to
have gained such warm praise from the greatest general of
his time. What can I do for you? Do you wish to be
transferred from the service of Sweden to that of her
majesty! We have need of good officers, and I can prom-
ise that you shall receive the same rank that you now hold,
and it is likely that before long you will have an opportu-
nity of seeing some service under your national flag.”

“T thank you warmly for your kindness, my lord, but it
is not with that view that we have now come to you,
though I am sure that we both should prefer to fight under
our own flag rather than under that of a foreign king, how-
ever kindly he may be disposed to us personally. We have
called upon a private matter, and J am the bearer of this
letter from my father, who had once the honour of your
lordship’s friendship.”

“Tervoise,” the duke repeated, as he took the letter.
“Not Mat Jervoise, surely?”

“That is my father’s name, sir.”

“Do I remember him? Why, he was one of my closest
friends when I was a lad, and I once stayed with him at
his father’s place for a fortnight on a journey I took to
the north. But I will read his letter.—What changes
happen,” he said as he Jaid it down. “To think that
Mat Jervoise should be an exile, his old home in the hands