Page:The Great Roxhythe - Georgette Heyer.pdf/17

"You think so much of business!" sighed the King. "Well, I have been with my nose to the grindstone all the morning and I am not finished with it yet. Sit down, Davy!" He returned to the desk.

Roxhythe chose a seat opposite him and laid down his hat.

Charles' heavy face was overcast. His melancholy eyes, resting on the favourite's face, were frowning. Roxhythe raised his brows, and leaned back in his chair.

"David," said the King, at last, "I am in something of a quandary."

Roxhythe said nothing.

"If I do not obtain money soon I am like to be in a worse one. This Dutch alliance is of no use to me."

"Well, we always knew that, Sir. You've commands for me?"

"A request."

"Name it, Sire."

"Gently, Roxhythe! There is much ye understand first."

Roxhythe drew closer to the desk.

"This is a secret matter, Sir?"

"For the present, yes. David, the matter is this: very soon I must have means, or I fall. The Commons will grand me nothing, nor will I ask them. There is Louis . . ." He paused.

Roxhythe made a little gesture of distaste.

"You are adverse from dealing with the French King, ah? Well, so am I. I've no mind to bear his yoke on my shoulders, for I believe it would tax my ingenuity to its uttermost to out-wit him. That he would jump to the movement of my finger I know. Yet . . ." Again he paused.

"You do not wish to put England under his thumb, Sir?"

"I do not wish to put myself under his thumb, Roxhythe. His Christian Majesty is very grasping. So I am forced to think of another alternative."

"Well, Sir?"