y. Yet, methinks, were they
right well pleasured that I should so aventure, which indeed I might not
otherwise do, seeing as I have telled to thee, that one of them is mine
own true lady for to serven, and so was the only way that I might come
to speech with her."

Such was Myles's own quaint way of telling how he accomplished his aim
of visiting the forbidden garden, and no doubt the smack of adventure
and the savor of danger in the undertaking recommended him not a little
to the favor of the young ladies.

After this first acquaintance perhaps a month passed, during which Myles
had climbed the wall some half a dozen times (for the Lady Anne
would not permit of too frequent visits), and during which the first
acquaintance of the three ripened rapidly to an honest, pleasant
friendship. More than once Myles, when in Lord George's train, caught
a covert smile or half nod from one or both of the girls, not a little
delightful in its very secret friendliness.

CHAPTER 19

As was said, perhaps a month passed; then Myles's visits came to an
abrupt termination, and with it ended, in a certain sense, a chapter of
his life.

One Saturday afternoon he climbed the garden wall, and skirting behind
a long row of rosebushes that screened him from the Countess's terrace,
came to a little summer-house where the two young ladies had appointed
to meet him that day.

A pleasant half-hour or so was passed, and then it was time for Myles
to go. He lingered for a while before he took his final leave, leaning
against the door-post, and laughingly telling how he and some of his
brother squires had made a figure of straw dressed in men's clothes, and
had played a trick with it one night upon a watchman against whom they
bore a grudge.

The young ladies were listening with laughing faces, when suddenly, as
Myles looked, he saw the smile vanish from Lady Alice's eyes and a wide
terror take its place. She gave a half-articulate cry, and rose abruptly
from the bench upon which she was sitting.

Myles turned sharply, and then his very heart seemed to stand still
within him; for there, standing in the broad sunlight without, and
glaring in upon the party with baleful eyes, was the Earl of Mackworth
himself.

How long was the breathless silence that followed, Myles could never
tell. He knew that the Lady Anne had also risen, and that she and her
cousin were standing as still as statues. Presently the Earl pointed to
the house with his