"The only thing which in reason could be done, my lord," answered a small, insignificant man, almost a dwarf, who was known everywhere as the Marquis of Orford's factotum.
He was intensely ugly, with an extraordinary look of cunning in his eyes when you saw them, but that was not often--they were small, with heavy lids which were seldom raised, and if they were, it was with a sidelong glance. He was standing now before Lord Orford in a room which that nobleman had succeeded in hiring at Oxford, and for which he paid an enormous price, for the town was crowded to excess, and yet was kept so cleanly by the authorities that the plague had not come near it. The lovely city with its colleges and chapels, the walks in the surrounding country, the beautiful river upon which the boats went and came all day long in gay succession, made of it a most delightful resort, and but for the daily reports from London, the life led by the court would have been ideal.
"Give an account of yourself," said Lord Orford.
"I set Ben Davies to watch his opportunity," said the man, "bidding him never lose sight of the lady. Ben is a bargeman, and has a craft which he takes from London Bridge to Holland or to France as he chooses. His wife, two children, and a boy, live on board. It is by no means a bad craft, and Mistress Ben is an uncommonly cleanly, thrifty woman, so I just told him that if ever he could catch the lady and take her on board, and then strike off to Holland with her, he might reckon on a hundred pounds."
"You did not mention my name?" said his lordship.
"I'm not quite such a fool, though I look it," answered the man, with a short laugh. "No; he thinks I am doing business on my own account. He took it in good part. 'It's a service you're doing the lady,' I explained; 'she has a whim for staying in London because of her lover, but it's a pest-hole, it will be a good deed if you can get her out.' And so he watched and watched, and one morning at dawn, as he was passing by Somerset House, he saw a girl come running out and making her way down the Strand. There was no one else to be seen, the streets were deserted, so he dodged her to find out who she was, and as good luck would have it, her hood fell back from her face, and he saw that it was none other than the Lady Agnes I had pointed out to him one day. Then it was all quickly done: he caught her up, took her in his arms, and, muffling her face, carried her down to the barge. It was in the Old Bailey he got her."
"And where is she now?" asked Lord Orford.
"Coasting about, maybe on her way to Holland," said the man. "At all events she is out of that pest-hole; you ought to be satisfied, my lord."
Lord Orford walked up and down the room.
"Have you any further orders, sir?" asked the man.