"It was a fault Albrecht von Waldstein would have borne hardly, had he been Captain-General. But in this case Fortune has been kind to you."
Nigel bowed. "I would that your Highness would continue to represent the Goddess in my regard."
She said nothing but some word of adieu, and passed on her way solitary, gliding like a swan.
And before Nigel could form any opinion on this strange rencontre with the proud princess, one of the gentlemen-in-waiting came and begged his attendance in the audience-chamber.
[CHAPTER XII.]
NIGEL MEETS FATHER LAMORMAIN.
As Nigel passed out of the gallery and crossed the landing at the top of another staircase, a door to the left of him opened from another gallery at right angles to the one he had just left, and two Jesuit priests came out in the dress of their order, shaven and tonsured. He saluted, and they acknowledged his salutation with a brief benediction in the Latin tongue and passed on. The eyes of both seemed familiar to him, though for the moment, being bent upon his errand, he could not have told why.
The doors of the audience-chamber opened, and an officer of the household announced in a loud voice—