Moll, in her efforts to make the room presentable, was rushing hither and thither, first throwing Adair’s coat beneath the couch as Nell commanded and firing the other evidences of his guilty presence, one behind one door and another behind another.
It was done.
Nell slipped the bolt and calmly took a stand in the centre of the room, drawing her flowing gown close about Adair’s person. She was quite exhausted from the nervous strain, but her actress’s art taught her the way to hide it. Moll, panting for breath, across the room, feigned composure as best she could.
The door opened and in strode the King and his followers.
“Welcome, royal comrades, welcome all!” said Nell, bowing graciously to her untimely visitors.
CHAPTER XVI
Ods-pitikins, my own reflection!
Upon the fine face of the King, as he entered Nell’s drawing-room, was an expression of nervous bantering, not wholly unmixed with anxiety.
The slanderous Adair and his almost miraculous escape had not long weighed upon his Majesty’s careless nature.