“It is a beautiful romance.”

“It will create a sensation at Versailles-much better, for you, than if you’d showed up fresh and well-dressed. Duchesses and Countesses will pity you, instead of fearing you, and take you under their wings. It is such an excellent plan that I wonder why d’Avaux didn’t come up with it himself.”

“Perhaps d’Avaux never intended for me to find a place in the French court. Perhaps I was to deliver these messages, and then be discarded.”

This remark was meant to be a self-pitying trifle. William was supposed to object vehemently. Instead he seemed to weigh it seriously-which did nothing to steady Eliza’s nerves.

“Did d’Avaux introduce you to anyone?” he asked thoughtfully.

“That same Etienne d’Arcachon.”

“Then d’Avaux has plans for you-and I know what they are.”

“You have a smug look about you, O Prince, and I don’t doubt that you have read Monsieur d’Avaux’s mind, just as you’ll read those letters. But since you have me at such a disadvantage, I would fain know of your plans for me.”

“Doctor Leibniz has taught you cyphers that put these French ones quite to shame,” said William, rattling d’Avaux’s letter. “Use them.”

“You want me to spy for you, at Versailles.”

“Not only for me but for Sophie and all of the others who oppose Louis. For now, that’s how you can be useful. Later, perhaps, I will require something else.”

“ NowI am in your power-but when I reach France, and those Duchesses begin fawning over me, I’ll have all of le Roi ’s armies and navies to protect me…”

“So how can I trust you, girl-child, not to tell the entire tale to the French, and become a double-agent?”

“Just so.”

“Isn’t it sufficient that Louis is repellent, and I stand for freedom?”

“Perhaps… but you’d be foolish if you trusted me to act accordingly… and I won’t spy for a fool.”

“Oh? You did for Monmouth.”

Eliza gasped. “Sir!”

“You should not joust if you are afraid to be punched out of the saddle, girl-child.”

“Monmouth is no scholar, admitted-but he’s a fine warrior.”

“He is adequate -but he’s no John Churchill. You don’t really believe he’ll overthrow King James, do you?”

“I wouldn’t have abetted him if I didn’t think so.”

William laughed very grimly. “Did he offer to make you a Duchess?”

“Why does everyone ask me that?”

“He addled your brain when he did that. Monmouth is doomed. I have six English and Scottish regiments garrisoned in the Hague, as part of a treaty with England… as soon as I get there, I’ll send them back across the narrow seas to help put down Monmouth’s rebellion.”

“But why!? James is almost a vassal to Louis! You should be supporting Monmouth!”

“Eliza, did Monmouth skulk about Amsterdam incognito?”

“No, he cut a brave swath.”

“Did he continually watch his back for French assassins?”

“No, he was carefree as a jay-bird.”

“Were bombs with sputtering fuses found in his carriage?”

“No bombs-only bon-bons.”

“Is d’Avaux an intelligent man?”

“Of course!”

“Then-since he must have known what Monmouth was planning-as you made it so obvious-why did he make no effort to assassinate Monmouth?”

Nothing from poor Eliza.

“Monmouth has landed, of all places, in Dorset-John Churchill’s home ground! Churchill is riding out from London to engage him, and when that happens the rebellion will be crushed. My regiments will arrive much too late… I despatch them only for the sake of appearances.”

“Don’t you want a Protestant King of England?”

“Of course! In order to defeat Louis, I’ll need Britain.”

“You say it ever so casually.”

“It is a simple truth.” William shrugged. Then, an idea. “I rather like simple truths. Arnold!”

Once again, Arnold was in the cabin-he’d found another two letters. “Sire?”

“I need a witness.”

“A witness to what, sire?”

“This girl fears that I’d be a fool to trust her, as matters stand. She is a Qwghlmian girl… so I’m going to make her Duchess of Qwghlm.”

“But… Qwghlm is part of the King of England’s domains, sire.”

“That’s just the point,” William said. “This girl will be a duchess, secretly, and in name only, until such time as I sit upon the Throne of England… at which time she’ll become a duchess in fact. So I can trust her to take my side-and she won’t think I’m a fool for doing so.”

“It’s either this, or the slow boat to Nagasaki?” Eliza asked.

“It’s not so very slow,” Arnold said. “By the time you arrive, you should still have one or two teeth remaining.”

Eliza ignored this, and kept her gaze on William’s eyes. “On your knees!” he commanded.

Eliza gathered her skirts-the only intact clothes she had left-rose from her chair, and fell to her knees in front of the Prince of Orange, who said: “You cannot be ennobled without a ceremony that demonstrates your submission to your new liege-lord. This has been the tradition since ancient times.”

Arnold drew a small-sword from its sheath and held it out in both hands, making it available to the Prince; but not without striking several braces, bulkheads, and items of furniture with elbows, hilt, sword-tip, et cetera, for the cabin was tiny and crowded. The Prince watched with sour amusement. “Sometimes the lord taps the vassal on the shoulder with his sword,” he allowed, “but there is no room in here to wield such a weapon safely; besides, I am trying to make a Duchess here, not a Knight.”

“Would you prefer a dagger, my lord?” Arnold asked.

“Yes,” said the Prince, “but don’t concern yourself with it, I have one handy.” Whereupon he peeled his belt open with a quick movement of the hand, and dropped his breeches. A hitherto concealed weapon popped up into view, so close to Eliza’s face that she could feel its heat. It was neither the longest nor the shortest such blade she had ever seen. She was pleased to note that it was clean-a Dutch virtue-and well-maintained. It oscillated with the beating of the Prince’s heart.

“If you are going to tap me on the shoulder with that, you are going to have to step a bit closer, my lord,” Eliza said, “for, as splendid as it is, it does not compete with the other for length.”

“On the contrary, you shall have to approach closer to me,” said the Prince. “And as you know perfectly well, it is not your shoulder that I am aiming for: neither the left one, nor the right, but a softer and more welcoming berth in between. Do not feign ignorance, I know your history, and that you learned this and many other practices in the Harim of the Sultan.”

“There, I was a slave. Here, it is how I become a Duchess?”

“As it was with Monmouth, and as it shall be in France, so it is here and now,” William said agreeably. His hand came down on the top of her head, and grabbed a handful of hair. “Perhaps you can teach Arnold a trick or two. Arnold, witness carefully.” William pulled Eliza forward. Eliza’s eyes clenched shut. What was about to happen wasn’t so very bad, in and of itself; but she couldn’t stand to have that other man watching.

“There now,” the Prince said, “ignore him. Open your eyes, and stare into mine, boldly, as befits a Duchess.”

And Midas joyes our Spanish journeys give,

We touch all gold, but find no food to live.

And I should be in the hott parching clyme,

To dust and ashes turn’d before my time.

To mew me in a Ship, is to inthrall

Mee in a prison, that weare like to fall;

Or in a Cloyster; save that there men dwell

In a calme heaven, here in a swaggering hell.