nd tell
him what prison contains those whom it would forever dishonour his
knighthood to know punished and endangered but for his offence."

"My lord," answered the king, softened but still surprised, "think you
seriously that I, who but reluctantly in this lovely month leave my
green lawns of Shene to save a crown, could have been vexing my brain by
stratagems to seize a lass, whom I swear by Saint George I do not envy
thee in the least? If that does not suffice, incredulous dullard, why
then take my kingly word, never before passed for so slight an occasion,
that I know nothing whatsoever of thy damsel's whereabout nor her
pestilent father's,--where they abode of late, where they now be; and,
what is more, if any man has usurped his king's right to imprison
the king's subjects, find him out, and name his punishment. Art thou
convinced?"

"I am, my liege," said Hastings.

"But--" began the goldsmith.

"Holloa, you, too, sir! This is too much! We have condescended to answer
the man who arms three thousand retainers--"

"And I, please your Highness, bring you the gold to pay them," said the
trader, bluntly.

The king bit his lip, and then burst into his usual merry laugh.

"Thou art in the right, Master Alwyn. Finish counting the pieces,
and then go and consult with my chamberlain,--he must off with the
cock-crow; but, since ye seem to understand each other, he shall make
thee his lieutenant of search, and I will sign any order he pleases
for the recovery of the lost wisdom and the stolen beauty. Go and calm
thyself, Hastings."

"I will attend you presently, my lord," said Alwyn, aside, "in your own
apartment."

"Do so," said Hastings; and, grateful for the king's consideration, he
sought his rooms. There, indeed, Alwyn soon joined him, and learned from
the nobleman what filled him at once with joy and terror. Knowing that
Warner and Sibyll had left the Tower, he had surmised that the girl's
virtue had at last succumbed; and it delighted him to hear from Lord
Hastings, whose word to men was never questionable, the solemn
assurance of her unstained chastity. But he trembled at this mysterious
disappearance, and knew not to whom to impute the snare, till the
penetration of Hastings suddenly alighted near, at least, to the clew.
"The Duchess of Bedford," said he, "ever increasing in superstition
as danger increases, may have desired to refind so great a scholar and
reputed an astrologer and magician; if so, all