“I have no intention to do either, sir,” said Lady Bothwell, maintaining a tone of composure, though somewhat surprised; “but the situation is something new to me. If you know who we are, you also know, sir, what brought us here.”
“Curiosity to know the fate of a Scottish gentleman of rank, now, or lately, upon the Continent,” answered the seer. “His name is Il Cavaliero Philippo Forester, a gentleman who has the honour to be husband to this lady, and, with your ladyship’s permission for using plain language, the misfortune not to value as it deserves that inestimable advantage.”
Lady Forester sighed deeply, and Lady Bothwell replied,—
“Since you know our object without our telling it, the only question that remains is, whether you have the power to relieve my sister’s anxiety?”
“I have, madam,” answered the Paduan scholar; “but there is still a previous inquiry. Have you the courage to behold with your own eyes what the Cavaliero Philippo Forester is now doing? or will you take it on my report?”
“That question my sister must answer for herself,” said Lady Bothwell.
“With my own eyes will I endure to see whatever you have power to show me,” said Lady Forester, with the same determined spirit which had stimulated her since her resolution was taken upon this subject.
“There may be danger in it.”
“If gold can compensate the risk,” said Lady Forester, taking out her purse.
“I do not such things for the purpose of gain,” answered the foreigner; “I dare not turn my art to such a purpose. If I take the gold of the wealthy, it is but to bestow it on the poor; nor do I ever accept more than the sum I have already received from your servant. Put up your purse, madam; an adept needs not your gold.”