sterday evening to fetch Mistress Jennings home."

"Did she come--I mean, would she face the storm?" asked the king.

"No, no," answered Frances, laughing. "Why face the storm to return to
Whitehall when the king was away? I remained with my father, and was so
ill that a physician was called at seven o'clock."

"I hope you are well again," said the king.

"Not entirely. But now I shall be," she answered, laughing.

"You mean now that I am at home?" asked the king, shaking his head
doubtfully.

"Yes, your Majesty."

"If your heart were as kind as your tongue, I should be a much happier
man than I am."

His Majesty sighed as he turned away, and the expression on his face was
as an open book to me, knowing as I did that he had just failed in
perpetrating an act of villainy which would have hanged any other man in
England.

One of the king's greatest misfortunes was his mouth. He could never keep
it closed. A secret seemed to disagree with him, physically and mentally;
therefore he relieved himself of it as soon as possible by telling any
one that would listen. Knowing this royal weakness, I was not at all
surprised to learn, two or three days after our adventure, that it was
being talked about by the court.

One evening at the queen's ball, my Lady Castlemain, a very cat of a
woman, came up to a group consisting of the king, the duchess, Frances,
myself, and three or four others who were standing near the king's chair.
Elbowing her way to the king, near whom Frances was standing, Lady
Castlemain said:--

"Ah, la Belle Jennings, tell us of your adventure Sunday night!"

"Of what adventure, la Belle Castlemain?" asked Frances, smiling sweetly.

"Why, when you were kidnapped and carried to a country house for the
night," returned Castlemain, with a vindictive gleam in her eyes and an
angry toss of her head.

"I kidnapped Sunday night?" asked Frances, in well-feigned surprise. "No
such romantic adventure has befallen me."

"Yes, kidnapped Sunday night," returned Castlemain, showing her teeth.
"Of course you were kidnapped! I'm sure nothing would induce so modest a
lady as the fair Jennings to go of her own free will. She would insist on
being taken by force. Ha! ha! Force!"

She laughed as though speaking in jest, but her real intent was plain to
every one that heard her. Frances, too, laughed so merrily that one might
have supposed she considered it all a joke, and her acting was far better
than Castlemain