St. George and St. Michael, Volume 3MacDonald, George
History
St. George and St. Michael, Volume 3
MacDonald, George
Great Britain -- History -- Civil War, 1642-1649 -- Fiction
There was, however, another and more threatening possibility of
encounter. He remembered that Mr. Delaware, the master of his horse,
had lately removed to that part of the house: and the fear came upon
him lest his blind son, who frequently turned night into day in his
love for the organ, and was uncertain in his movements between
chapel and chamber, the direct way being that just described, should
by evil chance appear at the very moment of the king's passing, and
alarm him--for through the gallery Dr. Bayly must lead his majesty
to reach my lord Privy-seal's chamber. The marquis, therefore,
although reluctant to introduce another even to the externals of the
plot, felt that the assistance of a second confidant was more than
desirable, and turning the matter over, could think of no one whom
he could trust so well, and who at the same time would, if seen, be
so little liable to the sort of suspicion he dreaded, as Dorothy. He
therefore sent for her, told her as much as he thought proper, gave
her the key of his private passage to the gallery, leading across
the top of the hall-door, the only direct communication from the
southern side of the castle, and generally kept closed, and directed
her to be in the gallery ten minutes before eleven, to lock the door
at the top of the stair leading down into the hall, and take her
stand in the window at the foot of the stair from the bell-tower,
where the door was without a lock, and see that no one entered by
order of the marquis for the king's repose, enjoining upon her that,
whatever she saw or heard from any other quarter, she must keep
perfectly still, nor let any one discover that she was there. With
these instructions, his lordship, considerably relieved, dismissed
her, and went to lie down upon his bed, and have a nap if he could.
He had already given the chaplain the key of his chamber, the door
of which he always locked, that he might enter and wake him when the
appointed hour was at hand.
As soon as he began to feel that eleven o'clock was drawing near,
Dr. Bayly proceeded to reconnoitre. The marquis's plan, although he
could think of none better, was not altogether satisfactory, and it
was to his relief that he found nobody in the dining-room. When he
entered the drawing-room, however, there, to his equal annoyance, he
saw in the light of one expiring candle the dim figure of a lady; he
could not offer HER the keys of the wine-cellar! What was he to do?
What could she be there for? He drew nearer, and, with a positive
pang of relief, discovered that it was Dorothy. A word was enough
between them. But the good doctor was just a little annoyed that a
second should share in the secret of the great ones.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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