'"Frances, dear, before I promise anything, I want you to answer me one question. Supposing it possible to gain Lord Desmond's pardon, as I hope and trust it may be, is his wife prepared to follow him into the exile and poverty I fear will still be his? or does she only want to pay the debt of gratitude she has owed so long, and be free?"
'"I don't know—I don't know anything," I said, beginning to sob helplessly. "Oh, Henrietta, save him first, and we can settle everything else afterwards."
'Henrietta put her arm round my waist, and drew me towards the house, saying, as if I had given the most lucid and sensible answer in the world:
'"Then come with me, dear, for there is no time to be lost. Lord Desmond's trial is to take place in a week; but if you are brave and patient, I THINK HE CAN BE SAVED."'
Uncle Algernon stopped here for a moment, and then said: 'The rest of the story must be told in Lord Desmond's words, for it concerns him even more nearly than his wife; and, besides, it really is his turn now: her Ladyship has had a great deal more than her fair share in the narrative.'
CHAPTER VII.
UNCLE ALGERNON'S LAST STORY.
Some hours after my incursion into the Palace of Hampton Court, I was wandering about under the chestnut-trees in Bushy Park. I had been loitering there all that hot summer afternoon, watching from a distance the brightly-dressed group that had emerged from the Palace grounds, and crossed over the grass towards the piece of water at the south side of the park. I knew that it was Queen Mary and her ladies taking their usual afternoon stroll; and though I did not venture so near as to see their faces, there was a certain silver-grey gown and carnation-coloured petticoat which I recognised directly, and which I gazed upon with intense interest. They hovered about by the water-side for a while, and then strolled back again over the grass, and re-entered the great iron gates which separated the Palace gardens from the park. I watched them intently until they were out of sight; and then, turning away, wandered through the trees once more, until I came to the water's edge where they had been standing. There I stood, staring absently down at the bright blue sky, dotted with soft flakes of cloud, like pink shells, which lay reflected in the water beneath me. I was thinking of the curious stolen interview with my wife, which I had so long set my heart upon obtaining, and which, after all, had been so short, hurried, and unsatisfactory. Not that I had been disappointed in her—no, indeed, far from it! Oliver's description had in some degree prepared me for her unusual beauty. I remembered, too, how Sir Harry used to prophesy that she would some day be a lovely woman; and the first glance told me that his prophecy had been a true one. Among all the many lovely faces that I had seen at the Hague, at St. Germains, even at the Court of Louis XIV. himself, not one was there which I thought so beautiful as hers. Besides the clearly cut features, the sparkling, mischievous hazel eyes, and brilliant yet delicate complexion, there was a peculiar expression, arch, bright, and what the French would call malin, and yet at the same time very sweet and thoughtful—a look which I had never seen in any other face but that of my friend Oliver. No, it was not that I was disappointed in Frances, but that I wanted to have seen more of her—to have found out what her real wishes were, and whether they went with those of her father or of her brother. That question was a very difficult one to answer; for she had spoken but little, and the anxiety which she had shown on account of my peril, and the tears that rose in her eyes as she listened to my story, were doubtless simply because I was the friend of her favourite brother. How could I expect her to feel anything like cordiality towards a husband whom she had seen but once in her life, and that for a single day, more than eleven years ago? a husband, too, without home or fortune, who was living with a sword over his head, and to be rid of whom was well known to be the heart's desire of her father? I stood pondering these things on the water's brink till the sun had set; and when I roused myself at last, I was quite amazed to find that the statue of Diana on the fountain in the middle of the water had become only a dusky outline against the sky, and the wreaths of rose-coloured cloud had turned into one heavy leaden bank upon the horizon. It was clearly time to turn my steps towards Kingston, where I had been lodging for the last few days.
'So I sauntered leisurely towards the nearest gate of the park. A dark figure was moving about under a clump of chestnut-trees close at hand; but, as I came near, it vanished suddenly, and I passed on, thinking that it was most likely a startled deer. But just as I was turning out of the gate, there was a stealthy footstep behind me, and I paused to look back. One moment more and a hand was laid upon my shoulder, and I heard the fatal words:
'"You are arrested in the King's name."