“It is as I thought it would be,” said Lord Stafford, “but we must not be discouraged. You must go to the same place for several days. I feel sure that if Mary can compass it she will fare that way again. It is our only hope of opening up communication with her.”
Three more days passed without result, but on the morning of the fourth day a cavalcade appeared. Francis was delighted to see Mary in their midst. Not as before on a horse but in a coach. As she stood with uncovered head the party swept by her without stopping. The queen bowed and smiled, but when the girl would have darted to the side of the coach she was prevented by the gentlemen of the guard who closed around it. 67
“Oh,” cried the girl, tears of disappointment streaming from her eyes, “what shall I do? What can I do?” But the equipage swept on bearing Mary from her sight and Francis gave way to her grief unrestrainedly.
“And I thought to have done so much,” she murmured when she had become calm. “Ah! my father did well to say that Sir Amyas was an austere man. Little doth it comfort Mary to be a queen when there is such an one to control her actions. Well, I must to the inn.”
She turned to go back to the town when her eye was caught by a filmy bit of linen which was caught in a bush by the wayside.
“’Twas hers,” cried Francis catching it up eagerly. “How foolish to repine when I should have known that there would be some sign.”
Examining the dainty bit of cloth carefully she found it covered over with a lot of characters whose meaning she could not fathom.
“I must take it to my father,” she said concealing the linen in her bosom. “Mayhap he can decipher it.” And she hastened to return 68 to the tavern joyful at having obtained at least a token.
“It is written in cipher,” remarked Lord Stafford, examining the bit of cloth attentively. “It is my good fortune to have the key to some of the ciphers which she uses. It may be that it is the one that will unravel the meaning of this for us.”
Francis awaited the result with impatience while her father applied himself to the task of deciphering the characters. Presently he looked up triumphantly.