“Then you do not mean to look for him to-night?”
“Look for him? I might as well look for a needle in a haystack. No! I have promised La Masque to visit the old ruins, and there I shall go forthwith. Will you accompany me?”
“I think not. I have a word to say to La Masque, and you and she kept talking so busily, I had no chance to put it in.”
Sir Norman laughed.
“Besides, I have no doubt it is a word you would not like to utter in the presence of a third party, even though that third party be your friend and Pythias, Kingsley. Do you mean to stay here like a plague-sentinel until she returns?”
“Possibly; or if I get tired I may set out in search of her. When do you return?”
“The Fates, that seem to make a foot-ball of my best affections, and kick them as they please, only know. If nothing happens—which, being interpreted, means, if I am still in the land of the living—I shall surely be back by daybreak.”
“And I shall be anxious about that time to hear the result of your night's adventure; so where shall we meet?”
“Why not here? it is as good a place as any.”
“With all my heart. Where do you propose getting a horse?”