, and the three of us
turned suddenly toward him as he stood by the chimney-piece. A look of
unfettered admiration of her was in his eyes as he answered:

"There's no one wishing you that more than I, Miss Nancy."

Father Michel's grave face looked at us serenely from the coach window
for a minute, and we stood on the steps watching them drive away and
listening to the horses' hoofs growing fainter and fainter along the
outer road.

Before they had died away entirely Danvers turned toward me.

"Lord Stair," he said, "may I call myself so much at home as to ring
for a groom? I want my horse. I'm going to ride after her."

"What for?" Sandy inquired.

"To protect her," he answered.

"Well," observed Sandy, dryly, "ye may as well go and be on hand in
case there's need of help. Nancy," he added with a laugh, "won't need
it. But you may be called in to protect the duke."

CHAPTER X

NANCY VISITS HIS GRACE OF BORTHWICKE

At the time of which I write John Montrose, Duke of Borthwicke,
Ardvilarchan, and Drumblaine, was the most noticed man in the Three
Kingdoms, and held by many to be the greatest scoundrel in the politics
of Europe. He was a picturesque and stately devil, tall, clean shaven,
with fine features and damnable light blue eyes with a baffling gleam
in them. He had a singular grace in the use of his body, especially in
the movement of his hands, which were markedly expressive and
attractive; and whether drawn to him or not, one could deny neither his
potency nor his distinction of bearing, which was one of race as well
as breeding. The first view I ever had of him was in Parliament House,
where I noted on the instant the magnificent carriage of his head and
chest, his extraordinary pallor, and the strange eyes, reflecting the
light from without rather than revealing anything within.

In London, Edinburgh, and Dublin, the tide of gossip overflowed with
his name and carried in its current tales of his greatness, his
cruelty, his lawless loves and his quick forgettings. It was libeled
against him that he had magnetic power over all with whom he came in
contact, bending them to his will by the sheer dominance of his
presence. There was, I recall, a story rife that upon my Lord Thurlow's
opposition to the bill for the restoration of the forfeited estates
becoming known, it was the Duke of Borthwicke who was sent to treat
with him concerning it, and immediately after this visit the bill
passed the Ho