, yet well
schooled in courtly wisdom. The lovely occupant leaned forward and
motioned to the chairmen, who obediently rested and assisted her to
alight.

"Retire beneath the shadow of the trees," she whispered. "Have a care;
no noise."

The chairmen withdrew quietly, but within convenient distance, to await
her bidding.

Strings's heart quite stopped beating. "The Duchess of Portsmouth at
Mistress Nell's!" he said, almost aloud in his excitement. "Then the
devil must be to pay!" and he slipped well behind the oak-trunk again.

Portsmouth's eyes snapped with French fire as she glanced up at Nell's
terrace. Then she turned to the page by her side. "His Majesty came this
path before?" she asked, with quick, French accent.

"Yes, your grace," replied the page.

"And up this trellis?"

"Yes, your grace."

"Again to-night?"

"I cannot tell, your grace," replied the lad. "I followed as you bade
me; but the King's legs were so long, you see, I lost him."

Portsmouth smiled. "Softly, pretty one," she said. "Watch if he comes
and warn me; for we may have passed him."

The lad ran gaily down the path to perform her bidding.

"State-business!" she muttered, as she reflected bitterly upon the
King's late excuses to her. "_Mon Dieu_, does he think me a country
wench? I was schooled at Louis's court." Her eyes searched the house
from various points of advantage. "A light!" she exclaimed, as a candle
burned brightly from a window, like a spark of gold set in the silver of
the night. "Would I had an invisible cloak." She tiptoed about a corner
of the wall--woman-like, to see if she could see, not Nell, but Charles.

Scarcely had she disappeared when a second figure started up in the
moonlight, and a gallant figure, too. It was the Duke of Buckingham.
"Not a mouse stirring," he reflected, glancing at the terrace. "Fair
minx, you will not long refuse Buckingham's overtures. Come, Nelly, thy
King is already half stolen away by Portsmouth of France, and Portsmouth
of France is our dear ally in the great cause and shall be more so."

To his astonishment, as he drew nearer, he observed a lady, richly
dressed, gliding between himself and the terrace. He rubbed his eyes to
see that he was not dreaming. She was there, however, and a pretty
armful, too.

"Nell," he chuckled, as he stole up behind her.

Portsmouth meanwhile had learned that the window was too high to allow
her to gain a view within the dwelling. She started--