'"Nay, don't be too sure of that," said Hal sagaciously. "Depend upon it the Queen knows mighty little about the matter; and however that may be, it is not at all unlikely that she may grant a pardon to this one particular girl, when she hears who she is, and all about her."
'"I wish Lady Dalrymple would have agreed to ask an audience of the Queen herself," I sighed despondingly.
"She had too much wit to do that," pronounced Hal with a significant smile. "Don't you know that Sir Bernard Dalrymple is not in the King's good graces? Ah, you were not here in King Charles's time, so you don't know, of course. You see, he used to be in high favour with King Charles, but the Duke of York never liked him. Why, since the coronation, Sir Bernard has never been seen at Court. Then, besides, he lost tremendously at the gaming-tables—more than half his fortune, they say. And he is in debt. Oh, there is scarcely a soul in the Palace that he does not owe money to." I was quite aghast at this piece of information. It accounted for Lady Dalrymple's refusal to give her name, and her evident wish not to make herself known to any one but myself. And there was yet another reason why she should shrink from showing herself at Court, which Hal (thanks to his ever-open eyes) was enabled to confide to me. It had been whispered that Sir Bernard had had, at one time or another, some correspondence with Monmouth. It was only a rumour, with no shadow of proof. "Still," quoth Hal, "enough to make His Majesty look somewhat coldly on the Dalrymples of Horsemandown just at present."
'"If she was but your wife, Hal, instead of mine you would manage it so much better." Hal was, I suspect, quite of the same opinion, though he did not say so. We then stood considering the subject in silence for a minute. "Marry, Hal, now I think of it, I have a particularly bad chance with the Queen to-day!"
'"What! because of Carlotte? Ay, true enough. I forgot that. How very unlucky, to be sure!"
'Carlotte was one of those beautiful little black spaniels, which King Charles had brought into fashion, and which, in his time, quite swarmed wherever his Court happened to be. It was by the late King himself that Carlotte had been given to my mistress, and she certainly was one of the most perfect specimens of her kind that I ever saw. Not one of the Queen's many pets was valued like Carlotte. And you may imagine into what dire disgrace I had brought myself this morning, while we were walking in the park, by throwing a large stone, in picking up which she had broken three of her teeth!
'"Yes," pursued Hal, shaking his head with an air of profound wisdom, "that certainly is against you. You provoked her sorely by that piece of folly; and, I warrant, you will be out of favour with her for the rest of the day. And no marvel either! I'll tell you what, Desmond! I have an idea our best way will be to get some one else to speak to the Queen—some one who is a favourite of hers, who has a strong influence over her, and whose word would have some weight."
'I caught at this idea with great satisfaction; but then, who was this some one to be? Whose word would have the most weight with her Majesty? The maids of honour were clearly out of the question. One person after another came into my mind and was rejected.
'"How would the Princess Anne do?" Hal suggested, but in a doubtful tone.
'I shook my head. Princess Anne was the very soul of good-nature, it could not be denied; but had she a strong influence over the Queen, or any one else? No, we had a great misgiving that she had not. '"Hal," cried I suddenly, "I have it at last! Father Niccolo!"