a full
knowledge of all that had taken place in the _interim_ of her absence
from Katherine. She came well prepared for a bout, and blushed not at
the subterfuges and mean, paltry artifices, aye, a full battery of
chicaneries that awaited her use, as she crossed the maid's chamber
threshold. "'All is fair in love and war,'" she quoted--"'Tis an
egregious platitude adopted alike by king and fool!"

"I could not sleep without first seeing thee and knowing thy
condition. It must be more than hard for thee to keep thy chamber?"
said Constance.

"Nay, thou art wrong; the convent doth inure one to quiet and
solitude."

"Dost think thy ailments will allow thee to go abroad on the morrow?"

"I know not, I am at Janet's mercy and I cannot leave my seclusion
without her permission. I feel quite well, but Janet says I am ill."

"Oh! that I had a nurse to so fondle me; indeed, she has kept all
looks of illness from thee; thy face is as clear as if thou hadst been
fed on wild honey all thy days;--and such hair! Dost leave it thus for
the night?"

"The tangles would never submit, should I so leave it."

"'Tis my delight to fuss with hair and thine is so beauteous--" she
arose and went to Katherine and smoothed the amber threads--"See, when
I turn it thus, 'tis like rare bronze, and when I place it to the
light, 'tis a glorious amber. May I plait it for thee,--I should love
so much to do it?"

"If 'twill give thee pleasure thou mayest assuredly plait it," replied
Katherine. Janet now watched for a whispered word or some sign of
intercourse; but her vigilance was of no avail, for Lady Constance
deftly placed a tiny paper in Mistress Penwick's hair and plaited
tightly over it.

"'Tis such a pleasure to fuss with hair--and such fine threads, too;
indeed, I have half a mind to become a _peruquier_,--there, 'tis
finished!"

"How is his Grace, Lady Constance?"

"He bids fair to pass a comfortable night,--'tis too bad his
physicians cannot arrive before the day after the morrow. They have
also sent for Sir Julian Pomphrey--a favourite of the duke and an
intimate and college fellow of Lord Cedric. Sir Julian is a most
wonderful man. When but nine years of age, he entered Eton school,
and having pursued his studies there with great success for one of
such light years, he was sent to travel upon the continent, where he
studied in Geneva for some time; thence he went to Florence, remaining
there many months,--afterward visiting R