ote which he had written to the governor of the
Tower, concerning the marriage between your daughter and myself, your
escape could not be effected till the ceremony had taken place, as it
was assigned as the cause for our leaving the Tower so late at night.
He made me pledge myself not to disclose his part in the scheme to
any one; and he then said that he would tell me the secret of my
birth, if I would plight my honour not to reveal it till after your
safety was secure. I pledged myself, and he told me all. I now found,
my lord, that you and I had both been most shamefully deceived--deceived
for the purpose, I do believe, of revenging on you and Lady Laura her
former rejection of Lord Sherbrooke by driving her to marry a person
altogether inferior to herself in station. You will see that he had
placed me in the most difficult of all positions. If I carried out his
plan of escape, I knowingly made use of his deceit to gain for myself
the greatest earthly happiness. If I revealed to you what he told me, I
broke my pledged word, and at the same time gave you no choice, but
either unwillingly to give me your daughter's hand, or to remain, and
risk the chance of longer imprisonment and trial. If I held off and
disappointed you in your escape, I again broke my word to Lady Laura.
You may conceive the agony of my mind during last night. There was but
one hope of my being able to escape dishonour, though it was a very
slight one. I determined to go to the King himself. I engaged a
gentleman to go with me, who has some influence; and this morning we
presented ourselves at Hampton Court, His Majesty was graciously pleased
to receive us: he treated me with all kindness, and gave me the warrant
for your liberation to bring hither. That warrant was already signed;
for the Duke of Shrewsbury had kept his word with me, and applied for it
earnestly and successfully. The Earl of Byerdale knew that it was
prepared, so that he was quite safe in permitting your escape. I have
now nothing further to do, my lord, than to wish you joy of your
liberation, and to bid you adieu for ever."
"Stay, stay!" said the Duke, much moved. "Let me hear more, Wilton."
But Wilton had already turned to Lady Laura and taken her hand.
"Oh, Laura," he said, "if I have been deceived into making you unhappy
as well as myself, forgive me. You know, you well know, that I would
give every earthly good to obtain this dear hand; that I would
sacrifice anything on earth for that object, but honour, tr