She stretched out her arms to him with a gesture of utter self-abandonment. "It means that I love you, Robin. I love you, and would rather die with you than live without you!"
He caught her in his arms and strained her to his breast with all the pent-up passion of his being in that fervid embrace.
"Leave you—now, my darling, my heart's heart—"
She tore herself from his arms. "More than ever now," she pleaded. "If you hope ever to possess me, fly, and I swear that I will come to you—if not on earth, in Heaven. Stay, I have an idea." She snatched up a sheet of paper and thrust a pen into his hand. "Write," she commanded, and he wrote at her dictation.
"MISTRESS BROOKE:
"Follow the bearer and you will find the queen's diamond necklace."
"There," she exclaimed, laughing and crying together, "leave the rest to me, and go—if you do not wish to destroy us both. Hark! the soldiers are already at the gate," she flung the window open—"trust to my woman's wit," she cried, "I shall not only be safe but covered with glory and honor."
He pressed a burning kiss upon her willing lips and sprang through the window. "Follow your master," she said to Larkyn, who stood by, an effigy of astonishment. He obeyed without demur, and she shut the window, closing and fastening the shutter and half-drawing the faded curtain.
Then she resumed her mantle and veil and looked around for any sign of Robin's late occupancy. He had secured all his papers and on the table nothing was left except the purple velvet case and some writing materials, which she thrust into a drawer. In doing so she came upon a packet addressed:
"To Mistress Larkyn,