"Tak twenty, if you will," replied the King,—"I am impatient to see what you can do."
"In a quarter of a minute all shall be ready within the pavilion, sire," replied the officer. "You have seen one masque to-night;—but you shall now behold a different one—the masque of death."
And he disappeared.
Nicholas felt sure he would accomplish his task, for he had recognised in him the Cistertian monk.
"Where is Sir Richard Assheton of Middleton?" inquired the King.
"He left the Tower with his daughter Dorothy, immediately after the banquet," replied Nicholas.
"I am glad of it—right glad," replied the monarch; "the terrible intelligence can be the better broken to them. If it had come upon them suddenly, it might have been fatal—especially to the puir lassie. Let Sir Ralph Assheton of Whalley come to me—and Master Roger Nowell of Read."
"Your Majesty shall be obeyed," replied Sir Richard Hoghton.
The King then gave some instructions respecting the prisoners, and bade Master Potts have Jennet in readiness.
And now to see what terrible thing had happened.