'Sit down, Daniel,' said Marlborough, indicating a chair. 'I've had more comfortable quarters in my time but these will suffice.' They both took a seat. 'I'm ready to put up with any privations in order to stop the French holding sway over the whole of Europe.'

'The same goes for me, Your Grace,' said Daniel.

'Then you will not mind going behind enemy lines again.'

'I'd be grateful for the opportunity.'

'It may well come in time,' said Marlborough. 'We have very few people as fluent in French and German as Daniel Rawson. You could pass for a native in both countries.'

'That's why I studied the languages so carefully.'

'With a helping hand from certain young ladies, I daresay.'

'There's nowhere better to learn the nuances of a foreign tongue than in the company of a beautiful woman, Your Grace.'

'You've been an apt pupil,' said Marlborough with a smile. 'Not that you've neglected your English lessons, of course. A letter I received from the Lord Treasurer told me that, when you attended a dinner at his house, you made a definite impression on Sir Nicholas Piper's younger daughter.'

'Abigail is a delightful creature.'

'Her sister is just as beguiling. The two of them are testimony to the fact that Nature can sometimes be defied. Sir

Nicholas is positively ugly and his wife is extremely plain yet they somehow produced two of the most gorgeous daughters any man could wish to meet. If I did not know the parents so well,' he went on, 'I'd suspect witchcraft.'

'Miss Piper can certainly weave a spell,' said Daniel gallantly.

'To which sister are you referring?'

'I was thinking of Abigail.'

'She obviously caught your eye.'