She recognized his voice, and let him lead her impassively to near the mouth of the passage, just so as the entering light might fall upon her face. And then he turned back the shrouding wimple, and saw a very rosebud. “The blush must be hot,” said he, “that shows by moonlight. And now, Mrs. Moll, what have you got to say for yourself?” She laughed, quite recovered, and backed a step from him. “Gentlemen first,” said she. “How did you find my lady? Alone, for a guess.” “I came to find you.” “Sure?” “And by God I’ve found you--out!” “Yes, I’m found out. You wouldn’t have me spend all my time stifling within?” “You favour moonlit walks, it seems?” “Why, for precaution’s sake, and to oblige you.” “I’m doubtful about my obligation to you of late, Mrs. Moll. Who were you walking with?” “I never asked him his name. I didn’t suppose it would be _camel fo_.” “It was my lord Arran, was it not?” “Was it, now? What an eye you’ve got!” “And you had met him, I suppose, by appointment?” “No, it was by the yew-tree.” “Come, my lady, you’re playing some game of your own in all this, and I want to know what it is. I brought you here for a specific purpose, and I’ve more than an idea that you’re converting the opportunity to a purpose of your own. What is it?” “What’s what? I was only taking a stroll.” “How did you make the acquaintance of my lord Arran?” “O! Is that his name?” “You know it is.” “Well, to be sure, many more people know Tom Fool than Tom Fool knows.” “Doesn’t he know you?” “He does now, I’m thinking. His cheek will keep him in mind of me for the next hour.” Had the limb been no more than the victim of a chance gallantry? Hamilton looked at her perplexed. A saintly innocence spoke from her eyes. But, with a vexed laugh, he dismissed the absurdity. And then his brows lifted to a sudden inspiration. He had recalled on the instant some seeming casual words of the Duke of York addressed to himself. They had related to a saraband, and to a certain superlative guitar possessed by Arran’s sister. Now he actually blinked in the dazzling illumination of an idea. Kate, and the guitar, and the royal strummer, and Arran--lured by Moll at the Duke’s instigation--the unconscious procurer of that meeting! There, however ordered, was the connection, the explanation of the visit. He felt as sure of it as if he had himself planned out the process. Why, in the name of intrigue, had he never hit on the trail before? But, now it was found, it led to certain conclusions. With a dog’s smile showing his teeth, he clapped his two hands on the girl’s shoulders, and held her grippingly before him. “I’ve been thinking,” said he. “You told Lord Chesterfield, and he told me, that you’d been witness of the Duke of York’s visit to his wife. Isn’t that so?”