'"You had better go and ask the advice of your friend the Baroness Von Hoogstraaten, if you only laugh at mine," said Beatrice, pretending to pout, though she was too good-natured to be really angry.
'"So I would, if she was but here," I answered, sighing. "Henrietta is so wise and clear-headed, she would be sure to know what would be best."
'"Did you not know," replied Beatrice, "that she had come back from Gloucestershire? She will be at the reception this afternoon; so you can consult with her as much as you please."
'This was good news for me; for Henrietta Sidney, now the wife of a Dutch nobleman, one of the King's most tried and trusted friends, was still as much as ever what I liked to call her, my elder sister, who laughed at me for my little vanities, shook her head when I did anything especially foolish, and whom I loved and admired as much as in the days when our friendship first began in the prison at Taunton.
'I used to see her very often when she was at her own house, near Hampton, but of late she had been visiting her father; and I, left to my own devices and management, felt that I certainly had not improved in judgment and discretion since we parted. Impatient as I was, however, to pour out all my troubles to her, I was obliged to wait till the next day to do so, for the reception was an unusually crowded one. The Baroness von Hoogstraaten had many acquaintances, and, moreover, she was a great favourite with the Queen, who talked to her so long about the buildings that were being added to the Palace, and the improvements in the gardens, that I had no time to do more than greet her very warmly, and tell her, with a very rueful expression in my looks, how much I wanted to see her in private.
'"Her Majesty has given you permission to come and breakfast with me to-morrow, Frances," she said, smiling at my dismal countenance; "so you must keep your budget of Court gossip till then. It must be a full one, to judge by your eager face."
'But I could not return the smile; and as I felt rather hurt at the allusion to Court "gossip," I felt a gloomy satisfaction in allowing Henrietta to depart under the impression that something very dreadful indeed had happened, rather hoping she would pass a sleepless night in trying to find out what it could possibly be. But when I met her next morning in her own garden, where she was superintending the fanciful clipping of the yew-trees Baron Hoogstraten loved, I saw that she knew already part at least of what I had to tell.
'"Forgive me, dear, for my little joke yesterday," she said. "Now I know that poor Lord Desmond is a prisoner in the Tower, I understand your troubled look well enough."
'"Ah, but you don't know all!" I said in a trembling voice, "Now listen, Henrietta, and give me all the help you can. I am half-distracted with trying to think what I had best do; for save Lord Desmond's life I must, and I know not how to set about it."
'I told my story without interruption, for Henrietta was never in a great hurry to express her own opinions; and we walked the whole length of the terrace, after I had finished, without her uttering a word. When we had reached the end of the long, straight path, she stopped, and said in her gentle, considerate voice—