"Andrea!" came a voice from below, in the garden.
"My lord your father," said Nicole, "with the stranger who passed the night here."
"Go down, and say that I cannot answer, as I am not well. I have a stiff neck; and return to finish this odd debate."
Nicole obeyed, as Andrea was always obeyed when commanding, without reply or wavering. Her mistress felt something unusual; though resolved not to show herself, she was constrained to go to the window left open by Legay, through a superior and resistless power.
[CHAPTER VIII.]
THE HARBINGER.
The traveler had risen early to look to his coach and learn how Althotas was faring.
All were still sleeping but Gilbert, who peeped through a window of his room over the doorway and spied all the stranger's movements.
The latter was struck by the change which day brought on the scene so gloomy overnight. The domain of Taverney did not lack dignity or grace. The old house resembled a cavern which nature embellishes with flowers, creepers and capricious rookeries, although at night it would daunt a traveler seeking shelter.