cy.

"Thou hast been deceived into thinking that the Duke of Monmouth or
Buckingham will arrange a meeting between thee and the King. The
former Duke is evil-intentioned toward thee."

"Ah, my Father; thou dost sorely grieve me! If thou didst not say it,
'twould be hard to believe; for surely he has been most kind to me."

"But 'tis true, nevertheless. He is now with the King and fretting for
being so detained from thee. He means to offer thee the protection of
his favour; which means thou art to become an inmate of his seraglio.
Dost understand me, my child?"

"Ah!--I understand," and Mistress Penwick looked up into the face that
the darkness veiled.

"And I have heard that the King is sometimes poorly intentioned" The
monk coughed behind his hand and moved uneasily,--"'Tis said of him,
as other like things are reported; but 'tis false. He is a good
Catholic at heart, and he will offer thee no insult, else we would
not allow thee to approach him. Our first thought is to get thee from
Monmouth's hold and place thee in safety elsewhere. The noble Lady
Constance is helping us and hopes that by to-night to have arranged
certain matters, so with our aid thou mayest be able to see his
Majesty very soon. One of the Brotherhood will accompany thee to his
presence or meet thee there; for we are anxious of the issue. Thou
wilt--" The conversation was interrupted by the sound of wheels. The
guard came running to them, crying half aloud,--

"Methinks some one of importance is about to arrive, as there is a
coach and outriders and a score of mounted escort. If thou, Father,
art found here, I'm doomed. I prithee hide thyself;--and my lady's
gown can be seen for a league. Hide here, behind this bunch of iris,
'til the cavalcade hath passed."

It was in truth the young Duke of Monmouth, who was hurrying with the
impatience of young, warm blood to his mistress. For all Katherine was
indignant with him for having such wicked intentions toward her, yet
she was moved by the fact that he was a Prince, the son of the King;
and susceptible as are all womankind to masculine beauty, she hardly
could withhold her admiration. She did not fear him, on the contrary
she wished to play with firebrands and see how he would appear in her
eyes, now that she understood him. On a sudden she wished to see him
more than any one else in the world, Lord Cedric excepted; and in her
adventurous heart vowed to torment and give him pangs to remember her