the door was almost noiselessly opened, and Clement
Lanyere entered the chamber.

"What has Lanyere to do with the matter?" cried Sir Francis,
suspiciously regarding the promoter, who was without his mask.

"You will hear," replied Sir Giles. "Be pleased to inform Sir Francis,
good Lanyere, how you come to be in a position to demand the hand of
fair Mistress Aveline Calveley?"

"He demand it! I understand you not, Sir Giles!" exclaimed the old
usurer.

"Let him speak, I pray you, Sir Francis," returned the other. "You will
the sooner learn what you desire to know."

CHAPTER XV.

Clement Lanyere's Story.

"My tale shall be briefly told," said Lanyere. "You are aware, Sir
Francis, that in the pursuit of my avocation I am often led into the
most dangerous quarters of the metropolis, and at hours when the peril
to any honest man is doubled. Adventures have not unfrequently occurred
to me when so circumstanced, and I have been indebted to my right hand
and my good sword for deliverance from many a desperate risk. Late one
night, I chanced to be in the neighbourhood of Whitefriars, in a place
called the Wilderness, when, hearing cries for help, accompanied by the
clash of steel, I rushed towards a narrow court, whence the clatter and
vociferations resounded, and perceived by the light of the moon, which
fortunately happened to be shining brightly at the time, one man engaged
with four others, who were evidently bent upon cutting his throat in
order to take his purse. He defended himself gallantly, but the odds
were too great, and he must have been speedily slain--for the villains
swore with great oaths they would murder him if he continued to resist
them--if I had not come to the rescue. I arrived just in time. They were
pressing him hard. I struck down the point of a rapier which was within
an inch of his breast--gave the swashbuckler who carried it a riposta he
did not expect, and sent him off bowling--and then addressed myself to
the others with such good effect, that in a brief space the stranger and
I were alone together. I had been slightly wounded in the fray; but I
thought nothing of it--a mere scratch. It seemed something more to the
gentleman I had preserved. He expressed great concern for me, and bound
his handkerchief round my arm. I was about to depart, but he detained me
to renew his professions of gratitude for the service I had rendered
him, and his earnest wish that he might be able to requite