rtments assigned to the Secretary of State, Sir Thomas
Lake.

The foremost of the two was merely a yeoman of the guard, and would not
for a moment have attracted Sir Jocelyn's attention, if it had not been
for a female who accompanied him, and whom he was evidently conducting
to Sir Thomas Lake's rooms, as Sir Jocelyn not only saw the man point
towards them, but heard him mention the Secretary of State's name.

Something whispered him that this closely-hooded female,--the lower part
of whose face was shrouded in a muffler, so that the eyes alone were
visible,--was Aveline. Little could be discerned of the features; but
the exquisitely-proportioned figure, so simply yet so tastefully
arrayed, could only be hers; and if he _could_ have doubted that it was
Aveline, the suddenness with which her looks were averted as she beheld
him, and the quickness with which she stepped forward, so as even to
outstrip her companion--these circumstances, coupled with the violent
throbbing of his own heart, convinced him he was right. He would have
flown after her, if he had dared; would have poured forth all his
passionate feelings to her, had he been permitted; would have offered
her his life, to deal with as she pleased; but his fears restrained him,
and he remained riveted to the spot, gazing after her until she entered
the great hall on the ground floor, beneath the Secretary of State's
apartments. Why she sought Sir Thomas Lake he could easily understand.
It was only from him that authority to visit her father could be
obtained.

After remaining irresolute for a few minutes, during which the
magnificent structure around him faded entirely from his view like a
vision melting into air, and he heard no more the pleasant plashing of
the fountain, he proceeded to the great hall near the cloister, resolved
to wait there till her return.

CHAPTER XXV.

Sir Thomas Lake.

A grave-looking man, of a melancholy and severe aspect, and attired in a
loose robe of black velvet, was seated alone in a chamber, the windows
of which opened upon the Fountain Court, which we have just quitted. He
wore a silken skull-cap, from beneath which a few gray hairs escaped;
his brow was furrowed with innumerable wrinkles, occasioned as much by
thought and care as by age; his pointed beard and moustaches were almost
white, contrasting strikingly with his dark, jaundiced complexion, the
result of an atrabilarious temperament; his person was extremely