e enough,
and it threw the whole assembly at once into a ferment of confusion,
amid which could be heard the voice of Sir Edward Stanley exclaiming,
in a tone far above the rest of the babel--"That was Dorothy."

"Gone!" exclaimed the baron, aghast. "Nay, search the Hall."

"Out; to your saddles, ye gallant knights," commanded Sir Thomas
Stanley, promptly. "Here is a prize worth the capturing. She must be
stopped!" and he quickly led the way to the stables, and in a very
short space of time was mounted and urging his steed to the utmost
along the Ashbourne road.

Sir George stayed behind; he could not believe that Dorothy had
really gone; but when a thorough investigation of the Hall, and the
outbuildings also, revealed the fact that she was nowhere there, he
was stricken with dismay, and succumbed, for a time, to a feeling of
despair.

"Nicholas," he said, as the worthy father approached to comfort him,
"thou art sure that one was a lady?"

"It was dark, Sir George," the priest replied. "I was unsuspicious,
and deep in meditation, but I fear it was so."

"Was it my Doll?"

"I cannot say," he replied. "I never saw the face, and did but
imperfectly see the form."

The baron sank back, regardless of the ladies who crowded round him,
commiserating his ill fortune. He remained silent, with a bowed head
and bleeding heart.

All night long the pursuit was kept up. Every lane was searched, every
innkeeper was severely catechised, and although in several instances
they had the satisfaction of hearing that couples, either on horses or
in conveyances, had passed, yet when the quarry was hunted down, if it
did not turn out to be an inoffensive market gardener and his worthy
spouse returning from Derby Christmas market, in almost every other
instance the horsemen were the decoys that Manners had so carefully
provided.

At last the chase was given up. Dorothy had proved one too many for
them, and with mingled feelings her pursuers turned their steeds again
towards Haddon, curious to learn if any of the others had been more
fortunate than themselves.

The two Stanleys were the last to return, but after having been out in
the saddle for more than a whole day, and that upon the right scent,
they were obliged to return without having met with success.

The next day was spent in searching the neighbourhood. Every inn and
every house was visited, but the night falling, they returned again
empty-handed, and very disconsola