the Parliament since? What
has come to the King? Well, Loyalty House will carry the King's flag
so long as one stone tops another. We will live as long as we can for
his Majesty, and then die for him gamely."

VIII

THE ENVOY

A sound of heavy steps disturbed her meditations. She stood up from
her map, blinked down the tears that tried to rise, and turned to
face new fortune.

"Here is our enemy," she said to herself, and she forced back the
confident color to her cheeks, the confident light to her eyes. The
door from the park opened, and John Thoroughgood entered the room,
holding by the hand a man in the staid habit of a Puritan soldier,
whose eyes were muffled by a folded scarf of silk. Blindfolded though
he was, the Puritan followed his guide with a steady and resolute
step.

"Halt!" cried Thoroughgood. The stranger stood quietly as if on
parade, while Thoroughgood saluted his mistress.

"Unhood your hawk," Brilliana ordered. Thoroughgood, obedient,
unpicked the knot of the handkerchief, revealing his companion's
face. Brilliana observed with a hostile curiosity a tallish,
well-set, comely man of about thirty years of age, whose smooth,
well-featured face asserted high breeding and a gravity which
deepened into melancholy in the dark expressive eyes and lightened
into lines of humor about the fine, firm mouth. For a moment, with
the removal of the muffle, he seemed dazzled by the change from dark
to light; then, as command of his vision returned, he observed
Brilliana and made her a courteous salutation which she returned
coldly. She made a gesture of dismissal to Thoroughgood, who went
out, and the Lady of Loyalty was left alone with her enemy.

There was a moment's silence as the pair faced each other, the man
quietly discreet, the woman openly scornful. She was under the same
roof with a rebel in arms, and the thought sickened her. She broke
the silence.

"You petitioned to see me." With the sound of her voice she found new
vehemence, new indignation. "Do your rebels offer unconditional
surrender?"

The circumstances of the astonishing question brought for the moment
a slight smile to the grave face of the Parliament man.

"It was scarcely with that thought," he answered, "that I sought for
a parley."

Though the man's smile had been short-lived, Brilliana had seen it
and loathed him for it. Though the man's manner was suave, it seemed
to wear the suavity of success and she loathed him fo