the
King, addressing the Duke of Buckingham, and speaking in a whisper; "but
she must go--I neither will, nor dare, stop her from returning to her
father."

"And if she does," swore the Duke internally, "I would, as Sir Andrew
Smith saith, I might never touch fair lady's hand." And stepping back,
he spoke a few words with Empson the musician, who left the apartment,
for a few minutes, and presently returned.

The King seemed irresolute concerning the part he should act under
circumstances so peculiar. To be foiled in a gallant intrigue, was to
subject himself to the ridicule of his gay court; to persist in it by
any means which approached to constraint, would have been tyrannical;
and, what perhaps he might judge as severe an imputation, it would have
been unbecoming a gentleman. "Upon my honour, young lady," he said,
with an emphasis, "you have nothing to fear in this house. But it is
improper, for your own sake, that you should leave it in this abrupt
manner. If you will have the goodness to wait but a quarter of an hour,
Mistress Chiffinch's coach will be placed at your command, to transport
you where you will. Spare yourself the ridicule, and me the pain
of seeing you leave the house of one of my servants, as if you were
escaping from a prison."

The King spoke in good-natured sincerity, and Alice was inclined for an
instant to listen to his advice; but recollecting that she had to search
for her father and uncle, or, failing them, for some suitable place of
secure residence, it rushed on her mind that the attendants of Mistress
Chiffinch were not likely to prove trusty guides or assistants in such
a purpose. Firmly and respectfully she announced her purpose of
instant departure. She needed no other escort, she said, than what this
gentleman, Master Julian Peveril, who was well known to her father,
would willingly afford her; nor did she need that farther than until she
had reached her father's residence.

"Farewell, then, lady, a God's name!" said the King; "I am sorry so much
beauty should be wedded to so many shrewish suspicions.--For you,
Master Peveril, I should have thought you had enough to do with your own
affairs without interfering with the humours of the fair sex. The duty
of conducting all strayed damsels into the right path is, as matters go
in this good city, rather too weighty an undertaking for your youth and
inexperience."

Julian, eager to conduct Alice from a place of which he began fully
t