But Jack's nerve had faltered. He began to digress. 'I'd hoped brother Bob might be in town, as he commonly traveled in John Churchill's retinue. And indeed Mr. Foot said he had been there very recently, inquiring after me. But then the Duke of Monmouth had surprised them all by coming to Dunkirk incognito, to meet with certain disaffected Englishmen, and proceeding inland toward Brussels in haste. Bob, who knows that terrain so well, had been dispatched by one of Churchill's lieutenants to follow him and report on his doings.'