In spite of the fatigue of my wanderings, I was awake betimes. While the clock was still striking nine I entered the dining hall. Lady Marmaduke sat alone at a table in an alcove that opened out of the main room. When she rose to greet me, which she did cordially, I noticed that she held a sheet of paper in her hand. “If this letter from his Excellency,” she said, pointing to the paper in her hand, “had not arrived before you did, you would have tasted of my tongue. I had a round scolding ready for you, but this letter shall give you a chance to explain yourself.” She was playful in her manner, yet I could see that she had been considerably put out by my absence the night before. I made haste to acquaint her with my story, though I said nothing of the mysterious woman I had seen. “Ah, Michael,” she said when I was done. “I forgive you and you must forgive me for being angry with you. Yet I had better cause than you think. Listen to this passage from the governor’s note which came to me less than an hour ago. “‘Fortune seems to smile graciously upon us. The ship came no nearer shore, nor did any of its crew condescend to visit the town. Perhaps they have concluded to wait till to-night.’ “Do you understand that, my Michael? A strange ship has anchored in the lower bay. It is probably a pirate ship and Earl Richard and I had planned to have you watch it; but when I came home you were not to be found. However, it has turned out all right after all.” She glanced out of the window, but soon resumed her speech. “You know of course that the buccaneers are forbidden the use of the port. Van Volkenberg has much dealing with them. This fact I know but we cannot prove it. Oh, if we could only trap him once in a secret meeting! We want a handle against him.” She brought her fist down on the table with a blow that made the dishes rattle. “I tell you we must have a handle against the scoundrel or we can do nothing. You need not look so amazed; but I forget how ignorant you are. We are to meet the Earl at eleven o’clock. I must give you a lesson in affairs so that you will know what we are talking about. You remember Fletcher? He was the man you saw with the patroon at the coffee-house. He was the former governor and a worse wretch never walked the streets of Yorke. The pirates bribed him, and the merchants bribed him, and he bribed them back for he was sore in need of friends. Then, to curry himself into further favor, he began to deal out the land of the province. He gave a hundred square miles to William Pinhorne to make him a patroon in the Mohawk valley. He sold both sides of the Hudson River as far north as Albany. There is hardly a square mile in the whole province that can be bought honestly for love or money.” I interrupted her to ask information concerning the geography of the province, for I was as ignorant of that as of affairs. When she had satisfied my curiosity she continued.