a window-frame,
for glass there was none; it stood some six feet from the ground and I
crouched beneath it, for I now heard voices in the cottage.

"I wish the rascal hadn't fought," said one voice. "But he flew at me
like a tiger, and I had much ado to stop him. I was compelled to run him
through."

"Yet he might have served me alive," said another.

"Your Grace is right. For although we hate these foul schemes, the men
had the root of the matter in them."

"They were no Papists, at least," said the second voice.

"But the King will be pleased."

"Oh, a curse on the King, although he's what he is to me! Haven't you
heard? When I returned to the Castle from my search on the other side of
the town, seeking you or Buckingham--by the way, where is he?"

"Back in his bed, I warrant, sir."

"The lazy dog! Well then, they told me she was gone with Louis. I rode
on to tell you, for, said I, the King may hunt his conspirators himself
now. But who went with them?"

"Your Grace will wonder if I say Simon Dale was the man?"

"The scoundrel! It was he! He has deluded us most handsomely. He was in
Louis' pay, and Louis has a use for him! I'll slit the knave's throat if
I get at him."

"I pray your Grace's leave to be the first man at him."

"In truth I'm much obliged to you, my Lord Carford," said I to myself
under the window.

"There's no use in going to Deal," cried Monmouth. "Oh, I wish I had the
fellow here! She's gone, Carford; God's curse on it, she's gone! The
prettiest wench at Court! Louis has captured her. 'Fore heaven, if only
I were a King!"

"Heaven has its own times, sir," said Carford insidiously. But the Duke,
suffering from disappointed desire, was not to be led to affairs of
State.

"She's gone," he exclaimed again. "By God, sooner than lose her, I'd
have married her."

This speech made me start. She was near him; what if she had been as
near him as I, and had heard those words? A pang shot through me, and,
of its own accord, my hand moved to my sword-hilt.

"She is beneath your Grace's station. The spouse of your Grace may one
day be----" Carford interrupted himself with a laugh, and added, "What
God wills."

"So may Anne Hyde," exclaimed the Duke. "But I forget. You yourself had
marked her."

"I am your Grace's humble servant always," answered Carford smoothly.

Monmouth laughed. Carford had his pay, no doubt, and I trust it was
large; for he heard quietly a laugh that called him what K