Hers, however, was not a character either to retain such anger, or enjoy such triumph long; and the whole was soon swallowed up in joy at his return, and grief for the uneasiness he had suffered. The more painful part of her contemplations referred to the rumours which he had heard; and she asked herself with fear,--what if the King should have given encouragement to his favourite to pursue the suit for her hand?--what would be her fate if James, won to the views of Rochester, should insist upon her accepting him as her husband? How could such rumours get abroad? she inquired likewise, unless some much more marked approbation of Rochester's ambition than any of her own acts had given, had been received from a quarter where will and authority went together? Women, however, have generally a happy art of putting aside the consideration of painful probabilities. They have much greater faith in the influence of time and accident in removing obstacles and averting dangers than men; and Arabella consoled herself with the hope of seeing William Seymour on the following morning, and enjoying an interview, however short, during which all clouds would be swept away, and their whole hearts opened to each other as before. Such expectations were strengthened ere she retired to rest. Ida Mara, who had not been in her chamber when she first returned, appeared not long after, while one of the maids was combing their lady's beautiful long hair, and, standing beside her, as was her wont when she was at her toilet, talked gaily of all the pageants which Lord Salisbury's mansion had presented during the day, and described the hall, through which she had just passed, as displaying a lamentable, yet ludicrous scene of drunkenness and folly. When the lady was undressed, she told her attendants to leave her as usual to her prayers; but the pretty Italian girl begged leave to remain a moment, saying that she had something to tell her mistress; and the moment the two maids were gone, she took a note from her bosom, and put it into Arabella's hand. "Dear lady," she cried at the same time, "do you know that the gentleman who, with Sir Lewis Lewkenor, escorted you to Wilton long, long ago, has come back again? I found him standing at the bottom of the stairs just now; and, the moment he saw me, he asked if my name was not Ida Mara, and then gave me that note, with directions to deliver it when you were alone. Oh, you will be so glad to see him!" "How know you that, Ida Mara?" exclaimed Arabella, with a smile. "Because you wept when he went away," replied the girl, archly, "and have sighed ever since, when I talked to you of Italy." "Well, Ida Mara," answered her mistress, "you must tell no one that I wept when he went away, for it might be dangerous to him and to me."