strong, passionate, tender heart.
That was all.

The supper, of course, was quickly finished, and the ladies left the room.

Sir George took to his bottle and remained with it till his servants put
him to bed. I slipped away from him and smoked a pipe in front of the
kitchen fire. Then I went early to my bed in Eagle Tower.

Dorothy went to her apartments. There she lay upon her bed, and for a time
her heart was like flint. Soon she thought of her precious golden heart
pierced with a silver arrow, and tears came to her eyes as she drew the
priceless treasure from her breast and breathed upon it a prayer to the
God of love for help. Her heart was soft again, soft only as hers could
be, and peace came to her as she pressed John's golden heart to her lips
and murmured over and over the words, "My love, my love, my love," and
murmuring fell asleep.

I wonder how many of the countless women of this world found peace,
comfort, and ecstasy in breathing those magic words yesterday? How many
have found them to-day? How many will find them to-morrow? No one can
tell; but this I know, they come to every woman at some time in her life,
righteously or unrighteously, as surely as her heart pulses.

That evening Jennie Faxton bore a letter to John, informing him of the
projected Stanley marriage. It asked him to meet the writer at Bowling
Green Gate, and begged him to help her if he could.

The small and intermittent remnants of conscience, sense of duty, and
caution which still remained in John's head--I will not say in John's
heart, for that was full to overflowing with something else--were quickly
banished by the unwelcome news in Dorothy's letter. His first impulse was
to kill Stanley; but John Manners was not an assassin, and a duel would
make public all he wished to conceal. He wished to conceal, among other
things, his presence at Rutland. He had two reasons for so desiring. First
in point of time was the urgent purpose with which he had come to
Derbyshire. That purpose was to further a plan for the rescue of Mary
Stuart and to bring her incognito to Rutland Castle as a refuge until
Elizabeth could be persuaded to receive her. Of this plan I knew nothing
till after the disastrous attempt to carry it out, of which I shall
hereafter tell you. The other reason why John wished his presence at
Rutland unknown was that if he were supposed to be in London, no one would
suspect him of knowing Dorothy Vernon.

You must remember t