"Go and ask him, Reine. Oh, I must make friends with him! What shall I do without a friend in this perilous time?"
"I will be your friend," Reine ventures, wistfully.
Maud measures the slight figure with scornful eyes.
"You! what good could you do me?" she asks, disdainfully.
"I do not know. I am small, but I am willing," Reine answers to that look. "Remember, Maud, a little mouse once saved a lion."
"Go and ask my uncle if he will let me come in and speak to him," Maud answers, ignoring her offer with proud indifference.
The slight, girlish figure turns away without a word. In the hall she meets Nellie returning.
"You have not found the note?" she says.
"No, ma'am, and whatever will my poor Miss Maud do? Oh, Mrs. Charteris, will they hang her for Mr. Clyde's murder? Oh, I daren't go in and tell her I cannot find it," whimpers poor Nellie.
"Nellie," abruptly, "tell me where to find Mr. Charteris."