the evening, and underneath one of the thwarts he hid the bundle. Then,

casting off, he rowed slowly up the Thames until, below the palace walls,

he moored near to the little postern gate which let into the lower end of

the garden.

Hiding the skiff as best he could in some tangled bushes which grew to the

water's edge, set there by order of the King to add to the beauty of the

aspect from the river side, De Vac crept warily to the postern and,

unchallenged, entered and sought his apartments in the palace.

The next day, he returned the original key to Brus, telling the old man

that he had not used it after all, since mature reflection had convinced

him of the folly of his contemplated adventure, especially in one whose

youth was past, and in whose joints the night damp of the Thames might find

lodgement for rheumatism.

"Ha, Sir Jules," laughed the old gardener, "Virtue and Vice be twin sisters

who come running to do the bidding of the same father, Desire. Were there

no desire there would be no virtue, and because one man desires what

another does not, who shall say whether the child of his desire be vice or

virtue ? Or on the other hand if my friend desires his own wife and if

that be virtue, then if I also desire his wife, is not that likewise

virtue, since we desire the same thing ? But if to obtain our desire it be

necessary to expose our joints to the Thames' fog, then it were virtue to

remain at home."

"Right you sound, old mole," said De Vac, smiling, "would that I might

learn to reason by your wondrous logic; methinks it might stand me in good

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