implored my pardon for the
artifice he had practised, and said he had been compelled to have
recourse to it in order to save me from the king. He then began to plead
his own suit; but finding his protestations of passion of no effect, he
became yet more importunate; when, at this juncture, one of the men who
had acted as my conductor on the previous night suddenly entered the
room, and told him he must return to Oxford without an instant's delay,
as the king's attendants were in search of him. Casting a look at me
that made me tremble, he then departed; and though I remained more than
two months in that house, I saw nothing more of him."

"Did you not attempt to escape during that time?" asked Leonard.

"I was so carefully watched by Mrs. Carteret and Hassan, that it would
have been vain to attempt it," she replied. "About a week ago, the two
men who had conducted me to my place of captivity, again made their
appearance, and told me I must accompany them to London. I attempted no
resistance, well aware it would be useless; and as the journey was made
by by-roads, three days elapsed before we reached the capital. We
arrived at night, and I almost forgot my own alarm in the terrible
sights I beheld at every turn. It would have been useless to call out
for assistance, for there was no one to afford it. I asked my conductors
if they had brought me there to die, and they answered, sternly, 'It
depended on myself.' At Ludgate we met Chowles, the coffin-maker, and he
brought us to this house. Yesterday, Sir Paul Parravicin made his
appearance, and told me he had brought me hither to be out of the king's
way. He then renewed his odious solicitations. I resisted him as firmly
as before; but he was more determined; and I might have been reduced to
the last extremity but for your arrival, or for the terrible disorder
that has seized me. But I have spoken enough of myself. Tell me what has
become of Amabel?"

"She, too, has got the plague," replied Leonard, mournfully.

"Alas! alas!" cried Nizza, bursting into tears; "she is so dear to you,
that I grieve for her far more than for myself."

"I have not seen her since I last beheld you," said Leonard, greatly
touched by the poor girl's devotion. "She was carried off by the Earl of
Rochester on the same night that you were taken from Kingston Lisle by
the king."

"And she has been in his power ever since?" demanded Nizza, eagerly.

"Ever since," repeated Leonard.

"The same