"How can I?" he said. "There is war on land, and war on sea, and I am not my own master. But tell me quickly how you came here at all."
"Jeanne, tell him; I do not remember," said Agnes.
"My lord," said the woman, "I cannot tell you much. My husband brought her to me one night. He told me to keep her safely, for she was worth much money to him. He had been paid to find her and bring her out of London from the midst of the plague by a person he knew of, a dwarf, the servant of some great lord. We presumed he was her lover."
"I had no lover," said Agnes indignantly; "I do not know who the man could be. This is all I can remember: I was very miserable; Ann had gone into a poor house, and I was alone with Patience in Somerset House. The plague was getting worse each day, and I was frightened. One night I went to sleep and woke up, and the whole place was red as if in flames. Patience had been sitting beside me when I fell asleep, but she was gone, and I was frightened. I got up, and somehow I found myself in the streets. They were quite empty, I saw nobody. I will go to Ann, I thought; she will take me in, and I ran as fast as I could. It seemed to me that I heard steps behind me, but I dared not look round. Suddenly I felt myself caught up, my breathing stopped, and I remember nothing more until I found myself alone with this good woman on this very barge."
"And she was like mad," said Jeanne. "I could not quiet her, I could not keep her still; my husband had to threaten her. 'You are quite safe,' he said, 'if you will keep quiet.' But she cried so bitterly and called out so loudly that he was fearful others would hear her, so he shoved out into the middle of the river; we kept afloat for several days up and down; but she knew nothing of what went on, for she never recovered her senses. She was stricken with a terrible fever of the brain, which lasted well-nigh two months. At first she made much noise, but at last she was quite still. Once only my husband landed and got to London. He came back with much money; he told me it was his reward for saving the girl. I took all the care I could of her. We put out to sea and came over to Holland, hoping to do some business, as we always did--the shipping of wood and various other sorts of merchandise--but we did nothing because of the plague and the war which followed, so he put us ashore in this little village, and he went to and fro picking up what odd jobs he could. Happily we had that money, and my husband told me that if he could get to England he would have much more, for he had received only half what had been promised to him. But we managed to live, and I did what I could for her."
"Ay, indeed she did; she has been very good to me," said Agnes. "I was ill a long, long time, and she nursed me well and kindly, and always promised, 'as soon as we can we will go back to England', for I told her who I was, and that I felt sure a mistake must have been made, that no one wanted me, that I had been safe with Patience. Both she and her husband think also there must have been a mistake, only, the man who gave him the business to do took him several times to Somerset House and pointed me out to him. Is it not strange, Reginald?"
"Very," he answered; "I do not understand it at all."
"Do you know what Ben Davies was told the last time he saw his employer?" said Agnes. "That it was not only because of the plague that I was removed, but because I was a great heiress, and that my estates had been stolen from me, that the people who now held them wanted to get rid of me, but that there was a man who loved me, and wished to save me."
"And you believed him?" said Reginald.
"No, I did not," she answered, "because you see I am Agnes De Lisle and you are Reginald Newbolt, and Newbolt Manor is De Lisle Abbey, and I knew you would not hurt me."