lready looked upon as
a rising favourite, who might speedily supplant others above him in this
ever-changing sphere, if he did not receive a check; though his present
position was thus comparatively secure, and his prospects thus
brilliant, he felt ill at ease, and deeply dissatisfied with himself. He
could not acquit himself of blame for the part he had played, though
involuntarily, in the arrest of Hugh Calveley. It was inexpressibly
painful to him; and he felt it as a reproach from which he could not
free himself, to have risen, however unexpectedly on his own part, by
the unfortunate Puritan's fall. How could he ever face Aveline again!
She must regard him with horror and detestation, as the involuntary
cause of her father's destruction. A bar had been placed between them,
which nothing could ever remove. And though, on the one hand, he was
suddenly exalted far beyond his hopes; yet on the other he was as
suddenly cast down, and threatened to be for ever deprived of the bliss
he had in view, the possession of which he coveted far more than wealth
or grandeur. Additional complexity had been given to his position from
the circumstance that, at De Gondomar's secret instance, of which, like
all the rest, he was unaware, he had been appointed as officer in
custody of Hugh Calveley, until the latter, who was still detained a
close prisoner in the porter's lodge, should be removed to the Tower, or
the Fleet, as his Majesty might direct. This post he would have
declined, had there been a possibility of doing so. Any plan he might
have formed of aiding the prisoner's escape was thus effectually
prevented, as he could not violate his duty; and it was probably with
this view that the wily ambassador had obtained him the appointment. In
fact, he had unconsciously become little more than a puppet in the hands
of the plotting Spaniard, who pulled the strings that moved him at
pleasure, regardless of the consequences. What De Gondomar's ulterior
designs were with him had not yet become manifest.

These perplexing thoughts swept through Sir Jocelyn's breast, as he
stood by the marble fountain, and listened to the sound of its falling
waters.

While thus occupied, he perceived two persons issue from the arched
entrance fronting the gate (adjoining the porter's lodge, in which the
prisoner was still detained), and make their way slowly across the
quadrangle, in the direction of the cloister on its eastern side, above
which were apa