"And so I will," answered Arden, frankly; "ay, if it should cost my heart's blood. But let me hear the whole. I will interrogate you in order, my sweet witness. You say they have stationed a guard at Chartley's door, and declare they will force Iola to marry this moody boy at ten to-night. They must have discovered all that we have fancied between her and Chartley. Is it not so?"
"I can reach no other conclusion," answered Constance.
"Then, where is your fair cousin?" asked Arden.
"In her own chamber," implied Constance; "whence my uncle threatens to drag her down at the hour named, and force her to marry a man whom she abhors."
"It has been done before now," said Arden, setting his teeth close. "What does your cousin propose to do?"
"I know not," answered Constance. "She sent me away that she might think alone. She will refuse to the last, of that I am sure; and she will have strength to do it firmly too; for her courage is far greater than I ever dreamt it would be."
"Think you the chaplain will perform the ceremony if she does refuse?" asked Arden, in a meditative tone.
"I fear so," answered Constance. "He is a mere creature of my uncle's, and, as you have seen, fat, sleek, and pliable, considering venison, and capon, and Gascon wine, much more than the service of the altar, or the conscience of his penitents."
"Then we must contrive to give your cousin some support in her resistance," said Arden, gravely. "It must be done; for she shall not be sacrificed, if I were to cleave Lord Fulmer to the chine with my own hand. But, upon my life, it is dangerous; for, if the king has given his consent, and we stop it with the strong hand, we shall have the wild boar upon us, and he is a savage beast."
"But his consent is not given," exclaimed Constance, eagerly. "That my uncle admitted, and said they would do without. From some words, too, I gathered that the marriage is to be concealed when it has taken place."