suite with whom we could discuss affairs?" 

 "There is his daughter." 

 "Ah, but she would scarcely suit the case. Is there no man—a friend, and yet not a member of the family who can treat with us?" 

 I replied that I thought that I was the only being in Santa Chiara who answered the description. 

 "If you will accept the task, Mr. Townshend, you are amply qualified. We will be frank with you and reveal our business. We are on no less an errand than to offer the Count of Albany a crown." 

 I suppose I must have had some suspicion of their purpose, and yet the revelation of it fell on me like a thunderclap. I could only stare owlishly at my four grave gentlemen. 

 Mr. Galloway went on unperturbed.  "I have told you that in America we are not yet republicans. There are those among us who favour a republic, but they are by no means a majority. We have got rid of a king who misgoverned us, but we have no wish to get rid of kingship. We want a king of our own choosing, and we would get with him all the ancient sanctions of monarchy. The Count of Albany is of the most illustrious royal stock in Europe—he is, if legitimacy goes for anything, the rightful King of Britain. Now, if the republican party among us is to be worsted, we must come before the nation with a powerful candidate for their favour. You perceive my drift? What more potent appeal to American pride than to say: 'We have got rid of King George; we choose of our own free will the older line and King Charles'?" 

 I said foolishly that I thought monarchy had had its day, and that 'twas idle to revive it. 

 "That is a sentiment well enough under a monarchical government; but we, with a clean page to write upon, do not share it. You know your ancient historians.  Has not the repository of the chief power always been the rock on which republicanism has shipwrecked? If that power is given to the chief citizen, the way is prepared for the tyrant. If it abides peacefully in a royal house, it abides with cyphers who dignify, without obstructing, a popular constitution. Do not mistake me, Mr. Townshend. This is no whim of a sentimental girl, but the reasoned conclusion of the men who achieved our liberty. There is every reason to believe that General Washington shares our views, and Mr. Hamilton, whose name you may know, is the inspirer of our mission." 

 "But the Count is an old man,"  I urged; for I 

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