r impenetrable shadows beneath, formed a dense wall
which the sight of human creatures was not keen enough to pierce. Sir
Marmaduke de Chavasse, in spite of this darkness, which he hailed
gleefully, peered cautiously and intently round as he descended the
steps.

He had not met Lady Sue in the capacity of her romantic lover since that
evening a week ago, when his secret had been discovered by Mistress de
Chavasse. The last vision he had had of the young girl was one redolent
of joy and love and trust, sufficient to reassure him that all was well
with her, in regard to his schemes; but on that same evening a week ago
he had gazed upon another little scene, which had not filled him with
either joy or security.

He had seen Lady Sue standing beside a young man whose personality--to
say the least--was well-nigh as romantic as that of the exiled scion of
the house of Orleans. He had seen rather than heard a young and
passionate nature pouring into girlish ears the avowal of an unselfish
and ardent love which had the infinite merit of being real and true.

However well he himself might play his part of selfless hero and of
vehement lover, there always lurked the danger that the falseness of his
protestations would suddenly ring a warning note to the subtle sense of
the confiding girl. Were it not for the intense romanticism of her
disposition, which beautified and exalted everything with which it came
in contact, she would of a surety have detected the lie ere this. He had
acted his dual role with consummate skill, the contrast between the
surly Puritanical guardian, with his round cropped head and shaven face,
and the elegantly dressed cavalier, with a heavy mustache, an enormous
perruque and a shade over one eye, was so complete that even Mistress de
Chavasse--alert, suspicious, wholly unromantic, had been momentarily
deceived, and would have remained so but for his voluntary revelation of
himself.

But the watchful and disappointed young lover was the real danger: a
danger complicated by the fact that the Prince Amede d'Orleans actually
dwelt in the cottage owned by Lambert's brother, the blacksmith. The
mysterious prince had perforce to dwell somewhere; else, whenever spied
by a laborer or wench from the village, he would have excited still
further comment, and his movements mayhap would have been more
persistently dogged.

For this reason Sir Marmaduke had originally chosen Adam Lambert's
cottage to be his headquar