"Stay, Williams, stay," he said; "I must write an answer to this, which you must bear back again. If you can see the lady, tell her what has happened. Tell her I was coming to see her, but,"--the door opened as he spoke, and he added, in an altered tone,--"then join me at Brussels with all speed.--Ah, Carew! so you have caught me." "Yes, Seymour," replied Sir George, shaking him by the hand; "it was very kind of you to lay to for me all night." "Nay," answered the young gentleman, "I cannot take credit for such courtesy. I wished much to have news of a friend who is very ill." "Some fair lady, I will swear," replied Sir George Carew. "God send her better, Seymour; and now, as soon as my packages are in, I am ready to sail; for the King's commands are strict upon both you and me to lose no time." "I must write a letter first," said William Seymour; "then I am yours." The letter was written, and the servant having received it, returned to Leigh, well furnished with money for his journey. As soon as his horse was in condition to travel, he once more set out for St. Neot's, which he reached about ten o'clock on the following morning. It was not without some apprehensions, to say the truth, that he asked for the Lady Arabella, for the suspicions which had been entertained regarding the plague had reached his ears on his former visit. The countenance of the hostess, however, was more cheerful, and the usual bustle of the inn was going on in full activity. "She has got the doctors from Cambridge with her," replied the landlady, "and I doubt that she will see you, master, for she is to be kept very quiet they say." "But how goes it with her?" asked the man. "Is it as you fancied?" "No, no, God forbid!" cried the landlady, "they say she has had poison, but not enough to kill, and she is somewhat better already." CHAPTER XV.