two themselves-and was not in the least astonished when Nelson turned to me and whispered: “By God, Hardy, if I stay in Naples another month I fear I'll not be able in honesty to repeat my boast!"

Chapter IV

A Threatened Throne

HE days immediately following were happy ones for the court and royalists of Naples.

The Queen, of course, was quite carried out of herself by the victory of the Nile, and was now determined, at all hazards, to break entirely with the French republic. I was at the palace with Nelson and Lady Hamilton on the morning she definitely decided upon this momentous step-momentous alike to Naples, to the royal family, to those whom I that day had accompanied, and, need I say, to Lady Nelson, far off in England, alone at cheerless Burnham Thorpe Rectory with the aged and paralytic father of her husband. And as I thought of the latter fact, I cursed this tinseled folly, this union of Mars and Venus in aid of a burlesque kingdom of petty intrigues and vile treachery. And, mark you, when I write in this manner I do not forget my adoration of Nelson, my admiration and respect for the Queen, nor the almost boyish affection I then had for Lady Hamilton. But, if you have forgotten it, my poor chronicle will remind

you of the woe that was brought about by all these attempts to save a worthless throne.

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My friends,”—and the Queen turned to us that morning with a confident smile, "I think I am now strong enough to defy France. What think you?"

Lady Hamilton was loud in her approval, and the Queen was far too occupied by her confidence and excitement to note the silence maintained by Nelson and myself.

"Think of it!" she continued indignantly as she paced the floor, once or twice angrily striking her white, clenched hand in the other palm: "Here am I with the friendship and aid of the world's greatest naval power; here am I secretly allied with Russia and the Porte; here am I a daughter of Austria which stands ready to join me on the north, and yet I have been forced to receive an envoy from these French republicans whose hands are still red with my sister's blood! And that envoy is still here at my court! Shall this thing be? I say that within twenty-four hours this man must leave Naples and that we shall at once and openly arm against the French. What think you, my Lord Admiral? You have caged Buonaparte in Egypt. Is not this the time for us to strike the blow? Shall we not drive

Berthier from Rome and forever prevent the disgrace of his triumphal entry into Naples?"

In her fury and agitation she did not note that the King had entered unannounced and had heard the last half of her passionate outburst. It was to his Majesty, however, that Nelson turned and gave

answer.

"Your Majesty must either advance, trusting to God for his blessing on a just cause, and prepare to die sword in hand—or remain quiet and be kicked out of your kingdom."

We all instinctively fell back, startled at Nelson's frank and almost brutal advice. But the King, after a silence of some moments' length, finally stretched out his hand most cordially and grasped that of the Admiral, saying gently but with dignity and deci

sion:

"I will go on, trusting in God and Nelson."

Then turning to the Queen with, I thought, just a tinge of reproof in his tone, he continued:

"Madam, with your permission we will discuss these matters at the council of state this afternoon."

Not only did the Queen carry through the council her measure regarding the French envoy, but also it was decided to at once raise an army of thirty-five thousand men whom the King should lead in person

against the detested enemy. And then were we in the midst of as pretty a preparation for what seemed to me but lilliputian warfare as ever I was engaged in. For you must know that Lady Hamilton and I and all the rest of us were as much in the thick of it as if we had been Neapolitans born, although for the life of me, being but a sailor and nothing at all of a politician, I couldn't see just what we had to do with it. And throughout the excitement of preparation Caracciolo and Stuart stalked smilingly, yet with a subtle threatening, until I was quite out of my mind with anxiety to solve the mystery of these

two.

The army was encamped at San Germano. Thither we English one day accompanied the Queen and court, her Majesty intending to make a long stay that her presence might add to the enthusiasm of her soldiers. The brilliancy of her first review I shall not soon forget. Not soon! Already I have been able to picture it any time these forty years and more. You must know that these Neapolitan soldiers were not the most ill-looking fellows in the world, and when some twenty thousand of them were assembled there at San Germano they were well worth looking at. But this was not what most strongly lingers in my memory.