Note 49 — Chapter VI · THE SECRET AGENT.

My narrative is made up from the "Private Journal" already mentioned, and a MS. entitled an "Historical Narrative of the Attempt to Restore the Queen." In the former, my grandfather gives the following account of the proposition:—"A momentary astonishment covered me, but it neither altered my cheek nor faltered on my tongue. I felt in the most unbounded degree where it might lead. I was conscious where it must lead. I felt myself born for the achievement, and I ardently embraced it. 'Yes,' I said in reply, 'I am the man you seek; give me the commission; I am ready in a day, an hour, a minute. My life, my labour,—dispose of them as your own. Enthusiasm I shall not want in such a cause so noble, so honourable to me.' 'It is well,' he said. 'I am satisfied; wait till this evening, or, at latest, to-morrow. You shall see and talk with this person. At the Comédie Française we meet this night. Adieu.'"