ir Sylvia take her _conge_ in a fortnight's time?"
demanded Ashley, in an undertone, of Lindley.

And it was in the same tone that Lindley answered: "Let's wonder,
rather, if the fair Sylvia'll be given her _conge_ in a fortnight's
time!" But the sneer in Lindley's voice was for Ashley, who had asked
the impertinent question, not for Farquhart, whose honor he,
apparently, doubted. "Lord Farquhart's not to blame, as you know well
enough. The mess is of Lord Gordon's making, for Lord Gordon holds in
trust even the barren lands that came to Percy with his title."

Ashley's resentment of Lindley's tone was apparent on his face, and
his fingers were again on his sword. He was under no promise to his
lady not to fight with Lindley, and his blood cried out for a fight
with some one. But at that instant there was a loud clamor in the
courtyard. A horse's hoofs on the flags, a fretted whinny, the oaths
of stable boys, all combined into an uproar.

"Can it be the Lady Barbara?" cried Percy Farquhart, sobered suddenly,
and reaching for his plumed hat.

"Nay, my lord, 'tis but one horse," answered Marmaduke, hurrying to
the door. "'Tis a riderless horse," he added, in a second.

"A riderless horse!" echoed all of the young men in chorus, springing
to their feet.

"Ay, a riderless horse," called Marmaduke, from the darkness without;
"'tis a woman's horse, too; a woman's cushioned seat."

The guests were crowding about the door, all save the lad who had been
slumbering so deeply. He, roused by the sudden clamor, and apparently
frightened by the sudden realization that he had unwittingly
trespassed upon Lord Farquhart's privacy, slipped softly up the
stairs.

"A woman's horse!" cried Lindley. "Is it possible that some woman has
fallen victim to the Black Devil? Here, almost within earshot of our
revelings? To the rescue!"

"Nay, we must think first of the Lady Barbara's safety," interrupted
Ashley, holding back and barring the doorway with a peremptory arm.
"We must not risk the Lady Barbara for the sake of some chance damsel.
Rather let us mount and ride to meet the Gordon coach."

"There is no sign whatsoever of foul play," reported Marmaduke, coming
in from the yard. "The lines are knotted loosely, and a tethering
strap is broken. The beast has doubtless but strayed from some
neighboring house."

"If 'tis from some neighboring house, good Marmaduke, would you not
know the horse and trappings?" queried Treadway. "Is th