"Oh! hush!" cried Prue, in a great flutter; "how could you be so rash? You will be recognized." She turned a quick, timid glance backward, and was promptly reassured. The tall, stately figure, picturesquely draped in a voluminous red domino, had nothing about it to attract attention, and a red mask with a deep fall of gold-lace concealed the entire face, except the firm mouth and strong, square chin.
"What made you come here, of all places in the world?" she asked.
"Chiefly to see you, but partly because I had business here," he answered.
Poor Prue thought of the bank-notes, and almost collapsed. What business could a highwayman have at a ball unless to rob the guests while pretending to be one of them? Just then Peggie drew her attention by pulling at the cord.
"For Heaven's sake," she whispered, "come out of this crowd. I am so hot, muffled in this sheepskin, I shall die if I don't get to the air."
Prue signed to Robin to follow, and led her lambkin away. Outside the ball-room, they were soon in comparative solitude. In the card-rooms a few elderly people had thrown off their masks and given themselves over to the full enjoyment of whist and écarté. Here and there a tête-à-tête was progressing behind the kindly shelter of albums or portfolios. In the library a sedate couple mused side by side over the latest number of the Spectator, upside down, while two or three portly, be-starred and be-ribboned fogies discussed the threatened Jacobite uprising over an exclusive bottle of Burgundy.
Prue was at home in every corner of Marlborough House, and had no difficulty in piloting her companions into a cool, dim-lighted conservatory, where the sound of voices and music reached the ear agreeably softened by distance.
"Every one has seen me," said Peggie; "I'll get rid of this sheepskin, and then I can dance."
"Peggie would rather dance than eat, sleep or go to church," remarked Prue, seating herself and making a little, half-hesitating, half-inviting movement toward the seat beside her.
Robin was not slow in availing himself of the opportunity. There was something in Prue's manner that allured him, while it kept him at a distance. He longed to take her in his arms as he had done once; yet he dared not touch her hand.