an. I cannot think ye would be cruel,"
added Dick; and taking the girl's hand gently in both of his, he looked
at her with courteous admiration.

"Are ye, then, a spy--a Yorkist?" asked the maid.

"Madam," he replied, "I am indeed a Yorkist, and, in some sort, a spy.
But that which bringeth me into this house, the same which will win for
me the pity and interest of your kind heart, is neither of York nor
Lancaster. I will wholly put my life in your discretion. I am a lover,
and my name--"

But here the young lady clapped her hand suddenly upon Dick's mouth,
looked hastily up and down and east and west, and, seeing the coast
clear, began to drag the young man, with great strength and vehemence,
up-stairs.

"Hush!" she said, "and come! Shalt talk hereafter."

Somewhat bewildered, Dick suffered himself to be pulled up-stairs,
bustled along a corridor, and thrust suddenly into a chamber, lit, like
so many of the others, by a blazing log upon the hearth.

"Now," said the young lady, forcing him down upon a stool, "sit ye there
and attend my sovereign good pleasure. I have life and death over you,
and I will not scruple to abuse my power. Look to yourself; y' 'ave
cruelly mauled my arm. He knew not I was a maid, quoth he! Had he known
I was a maid, he had ta'en his belt to me, forsooth!"

And with these words, she whipped out of the room and left Dick gaping
with wonder, and not very sure if he were dreaming or awake.

"Ta'en my belt to her!" he repeated. "Ta'en my belt to her!" And the
recollection of that evening in the forest flowed back upon his mind, and
he once more saw Matcham's wincing body and beseeching eyes.

And then he was recalled to the dangers of the present. In the next room
he heard a stir, as of a person moving; then followed a sigh, which
sounded strangely near; and then the rustle of skirts and tap of feet
once more began. As he stood hearkening, he saw the arras wave along the
wall; there was the sound of a door being opened, the hangings divided,
and, lamp in hand, Joanna Sedley entered the apartment.

She was attired in costly stuffs of deep and warm colours, such as befit
the winter and the snow. Upon her head, her hair had been gathered
together and became her as a crown. And she, who had seemed so little
and so awkward in the attire of Matcham, was now tall like a young
willow, and swam across the floor as though she scorned the drudgery of
walking.

Without a start, witho