Lord Rochester quitted the closet for a moment, and then returned with a face full of consternation.
"Mr. Conyers, may it please your majesty," he said, "is waiting without. I have not spoken to him, but the page says he is in dreadful agitation, on account of the Lady Arabella's escape."
"Ha! how! what!" exclaimed the King. "Her escape! Body o'me! Call him in, call him in. How now, sir?" he continued, as Mr. Conyers appeared, with strong marks of emotion on his countenance. "What's your news?"
"Such as I hardly dare to communicate, sire," replied Mr. Conyers, "though I have ridden post-haste to tell them. On my return to Highgate, after paying my respects to your majesty, I found that--almost all the people of the house having been sent out of the way during my absence, upon one pretence or another--the Lady Arabella had made her escape."
"I told you so! I told you so!" exclaimed James: "the carrying off this girl was the first step. This is a deep-laid conspiracy--a plot as detestable as that of the Papists. Send for Cecil immediately--send for Cecil. Let the Council be summoned within an hour. My Lords, we must look to the safety of the state! There is no knowing where this may end. We shall have a rebellion. If such a firebrand as this kinswoman of ours falls into the hands of foreign potentates, what is to become of us?"
The confusion which now took place in the royal closet was beyond description. All order and regularity were lost in a moment. Every one talked to his neighbour. Very little real reverence was shown to the King. Some shrugged their shoulders and turned up their eyes; and James himself was in the most pitiable state of agitation. He relieved himself at length by five or six horrible oaths; and then, with difficulty obtaining silence, he addressed Mr. Conyers in an angry tone, interrupting his speech to that gentleman from time to time, to make some observation to his favourite, or those around.
"Sir," he said, "you have betrayed our confidence, and misused our trust.--Have you sent for Cecil, my Lord Northampton?--If you had been vigilant, sir, this could not have happened. You do not know the consequences, sir, of what has taken place.--The devil is in these women, Carro; they are always making mischief, and there is never any telling where it will stop.--You should have given us information of the first suspicious circumstance."
"I saw none, your majesty," replied Mr. Conyers, boldly. "Don't interrupt us, sir," exclaimed the King; "there are some men that have no eyes to see with, and some that do not choose to use them when they have got them. Now, I'll warrant you that you have come away without any clue to this mystery. My Lord Northampton, send off directly to the Tower and order that young ne'er-do-well, William Seymour, to be put in close confinement; and he added a coarse allusion to the probability of children springing from the marriage of that gentleman with Arabella.
"Well, sir," he proceeded, turning to Mr. Convers again, "have you any clue, I say?--I'll wager now you have come away without any precautions at all, just to give the girl time to escape."
"No, sire," replied Mr. Conyers, "though I thought my first duty was to make known to your majesty what had taken place during my absence, I took care, while my horse was being brought, to give orders for immediate pursuit in every direction; and very probably before I return the Lady Arabella may have been brought back, or, at all events, information may have been obtained as to what course she has taken."