I had thought Mistress Goel lovely when she was in pain and disarray, and her form partly hidden by the long cloak she wore on our first meeting; but now, wearing a gown which fitted her slim body closely to the waist, with her shining brown hair neatly coiled and folded, and in ease and gaiety of heart, as her pleasant smiling showed, I thought--no, I did not think, I was overcome with love and felt that all the high fantastic words and deeds of lovers, at which I had laughed hitherto, were too tame for the height of my passion and worship. When I found my tongue, I asked particularly of her health. "My hurts are healed, or will soon be healed," she assured me. "Leyden is famous for its leechcraft, and my father is--or was--the best physician there. We go to-day to Castle Mulgrave." "But you cannot ride so far," I objected. "We are to be carried in a litter, which the earl sends for us." The old nobleman had, I then remembered, a litter in which he was conveyed about the Isle when gout forbade horsemanship. "You know the earl?" I asked. "He did us the honour to pay us some attention, when we were in London." I wondered what might underlie this, for the earl was one of the proudest men in England, and not likely to care for the sorrows of an exiled doctor. "Did you make the acquaintance of Lord Sheffield in town?" I asked. "Yes; he had the condescension to be our cicerone there." The tone in which Mistress Goel pronounced the word "condescension" had soothing for my jealousy. "How long do you remain at Castle Mulgrave?" I asked. "I do not know; perhaps until Mynherr Vermuijden appears. We go because Lord Sheffield has alarmed my father, warning him of danger in our continuing here. And our hostess is relieved of some strange uneasiness by our going." My mind was filled with apprehension, which I could not express. That Sheffield should do an act of pure kindness was incredible. His foul pursuit of beauty was a byword in the Isle, and there were fathers, brothers, and lovers, who were held back from murderous revenge only by terror of the old earl, who had long been President of the Council of the North, and consequently held unlimited authority over the common people of Axholme. Even that fear might not have restrained some, but Sheffield, as I have said, always went armed and attended, and had a host of spies in his pay. But how could I speak of Sheffield's vileness to this maiden shining in her purity? The door flew open, and Dame Hind announced: "His lordship, my lord Sheffield." From the plumes in his beaver, fastened with glistering stones, to his riding boots, richly lined with lace, he was dressed with splendour. The courtly grace with which he doffed his hat and bowed filled me with envy. When he had saluted Mistress Goel and her father, he told them that the litter awaited their pleasure, and then greeted me with affected surprise.