"Write, write!" She leaned over him, dictating.
Half spell-bound, yet protesting incoherently, he began to cover the page with his awkward scrawl.
"Quick," said she. "(Child, how do you spell quarrel?) Never mind, on with you:—
'Lord Verney begs to assure Sir Jasper that, so far from presuming to entertain any unlawful sentiments for Lady Standish, he has never addressed more than three words to her or as many glances at her in his-life; that his whole heart is given to another lady, the only woman he has ever loved and ever will love.'"
The pen nearly dropped from Lord Verney's fingers. He started and turned round on his chair to graze in amaze into the countenance of his mysterious visitor, and again was at once attracted and foiled by her mask.
"Surely you would not contradict a lady?" she whispered in his ear; "haste, we have but one minute more. Here, give me the pen, I will finish." She snapped the quill from his hand, her curls touched his cheek as she bent forward over him to the page. Swiftly her little hand flew:—
"If upon this explanation Sir Jasper does not see his way to retract all the offensive observations he made to Lord Verney, Lord Verney will be ready to meet him as arranged without an instant's delay. The truth of all these statements is guaranteed by the woman Lord Verney loves."
She seized the sheet and folded it.
"Now, Captain Spicer," said she, "take your coach and hie you to Sir Jasper's house, and if you bring back an answer before the clock strikes, I will let you take off my mask, and that will save you from dying of curiosity and, also, give you something to tattle about for the next month. Oh, you will find Sir Jasper," she said; "he is a seasoned hand, and does not, like your virgin duellist, make it a point of honour to bring his high valour to the rendezvous twenty minutes before the time."
Within his meagre body Captain Spicer carried the soul of a flunkey. He would have given worlds to rebel, but could not.