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hear, and if they could they wouldn’t dare talk of what I say.”
    “One can never be sure where our enemies are.”
    “In our own house! My dearest, we are perfectly safe here. Now I want to talk
sense
. When the great day comes we must be ready, must we not? My dearest Marl, you have genius, I know. And I can do as I will with Morley. But we have our enemies and I believe it is time we began to build up our defences.”
    “My dearest Sarah is becoming a general, it seems.”
    “Now listen to me. Even when my fat friend is on the throne, she will not be all powerful. There will be her ministers. We shall never have an absolute monarchy again. We need friends, Marl, and we need them badly.”
    “And, Sarah dear, I do not think we are very popular, you and I. There is only one person in the world whom I can absolutely trust—and that is you.”
    “Why, bless you, Marl, you and I are one and nothing on earth can alter that. But we are going to need friends. Do you agree?”
    “Friends are always useful.”
    “Useful! They are a necessity.”
    “Where shall we find them?”
    “By binding them to us.”
    “With what?”
    “Sometimes I think the most brilliant soldier in the world is lacking in strategy.”
    “It is a mercy he has a wife who can supply his lack.”
    “Seriously, have you forgotten that we have marriageable daughters?”
    “Marriageable. Why Henrietta is …”
    “Sixteen, Marl. Ripe for marriage.”
    “Oh, not yet.”
    “You are like all fathers. They want to keep their daughters children for ever just to give themselves an illusion of youth.”
    He smiled and said, “Well, who have you in mind for Henrietta?”
    “Godolphin’s boy, Francis,” she said.
    Marlborough stared at her.
    “Well?” demanded Sarah. “What objections could you have, my lord, to such an alliance? Godolphin is one of the cleverest men in the country. He would be a power, as you would, my dear Marl, on your own; but together … You see what I mean?”
    “You mean an alliance between the Churchills and the Godolphins.”
    “I do, and how better to strengthen such alliances than by marriage. Godolphin’s grandchildren will be ours. One family instead of two. Would that not be a good thing?”
    “There is one thing you have forgotten.”
    “And what is that?”
    “Do you remember how we made up our minds to marry?”
    “Yes, and your family stood against us. I was not good enough for the Churchills. I remember well. They had someone else in mind for you.”
    “That is my point. No one would have induced me to marry anyone but you.”
    “I should think not.”
    “So I say there is one point you have omitted. What of Henrietta?”
    “Henrietta will do as she is told.”
    “She is your daughter and mine.”
    “Bah!” said Sarah. “I’ll have no disobedience from my children.”
    The Earl laid his hand on her arm. “Be gentle,” he begged.
    “Are you telling me how to treat my own daughter?”
    “I am suggesting how you should treat mine.”
    She smiled at him. She adored him; he was the one person who could reason with her.
    “Well?” she demanded.
    “We will invite them here. Francis and his father. And we will not mention marriage to the young people until we know they are fond of each other.”
    “Romantic nonsense!” said Sarah.
    But she agreed.

    Sarah had long been watchful of Sidney Godolphin, for she had marked him out as a man whom it would be better to have for a friend than an enemy. The Godolphins were a noble Cornish family and Sidney had found favour with Charles II, who had summed up his regard for him in one of his apt phrases. “Here is a man,” he had said, “who is never in the way and never out of it.” That was good praise from Charles. It was often the case that a man who was honoured in one reign was out of favour in the next. Sidney Godolphin was too clever to allow this to happen to him. He had received his title when Charles had made him Secretary of State and