Sir Karl laughed in reply. And--as Miss Blake noticed--there was not a trace of shame in his face. Lucy's colour, though, rose painfully.
"Let me see! it was a silken thread, was it not, that guided Queen Eleanor to her rival?" continued Mrs. Panton. "A cruel woman! I wonder whether she carried the bowl of poison in her hand?"
"I wonder if the woman who destroyed the Queen's happiness, had any forewarning in her dreams of the fate in store for her?" retorted Miss Blake, sharply--for she was thinking of another case, very near to her, that she judged to be analogous. "For her punishment, it is to be hoped she had."
"Oh, but you know she was so lovely, poor thing! One can but pity her; can we, Lady Andinnian?"
"I know nothing of it," spoke Lucy, in so chafed a tone that Karl turned to look at her.
"My opinion is, that the King should have taken half the bowl," said Miss Blake. "That would have been even justice, Mrs. Panton."
"Well, well, judge it as you will, Fair Rosamond was very beautiful; and her fate was shocking. Of course the Queen was incensed; naturally: and the crime of poisoning in those days was, I suppose, looked upon as no crime at all. I have always wished the Queen had been lost in the maze and the poison spilt."
"Suppose we get lost in this one!"
It was Miss Lloyd who spoke, hurriedly and somewhat anxiously. It brought most of them around her.
"There is no danger here, is there? Sir Karl, you know the way out, I suppose?"