hero, so the hero had been attracted by himself, though 'twas in a
lesser degree, since one man was cold and mature and the other young
and warm.

My Lord Churchill had been the most beautiful youth of his time,
distinguished for the elegance of his bearing and the perfection of his
countenance and form. When, at fifteen, the services of his father in
the royal cause had procured for him the place of page in the household
of the Duke of York, he had borne away the palm from all others of his
age. When, at sixteen, his martial instincts had led to the Prince's
obtaining for him a commission in a regiment of the guards, his first
appearance in his scarlet and gold lace had produced such commotion
among the court beauties as promised to lead to results almost
disastrous, since he attracted attention in places too high to reach
with safety. But even then his ambitions were stronger than his
temptations, and he fled the latter to go to fight the Moors. On his
return, more beautiful than ever, the lustre of success in arms added
to his ripened charms, the handsomest and wickedest woman in England
cast her eyes upon him, and he became the rival of royalty itself. All
England knew the story of the founding of his later fortunes, but if he
himself blushed for it, none but John Churchill knew--outwardly he was
the being whose name was the synonym for success, the lover of the
brilliant Castlemaine, the hero of the auxiliary force sent to Louis,
the "handsome Englishman" of the siege of Nimeguen for whom Turenne
predicted the greatest future a man could dream of.

When Roxholm first had the honour of being presented to this gentleman
'twas at a time when, after a brief period during which the hero's
fortunes had been under a cloud, the tide had turned for him and the
sun of royal favour shone forth again. Perhaps during certain perilous