"We are all fools at times," she answered grimly. "We wanted to have persons of our own faith about us, and he was highly commended to us by Protestants abroad, as having seen service in the cause. He applied to us just at the right moment, too. And at the first we felt a great liking for him. He was so clever in arranging things, he kept such excellent order among the servants; he was so ready, so willing, so plausible! Oh!" she added bitterly, "he had ways that enabled him to twist nine women out of ten round his fingers! Richard was fond of him; I liked him; we had talked more than once of how we might advance his interests. And then, like a thunderbolt on a clear day, the knowledge of his double-dealing fell upon us. We learned that he had been seen talking with a known agent of Gardiner, and this at a time when the Bishop was planning our ruin. We had him watched, and just when the net had all but closed round us we discovered that he had been throughout in Gardiner's pay." "Ah!" I said viciously. "The oddest thing to me is the way he has twice escaped me when I had him at the sword's point!" "The third time may bring other fortune, Master Francis," she answered smiling. "Yet be wary with him. He is a good swordsman, as my husband, who sometimes fenced with him, will tell you." "He can be no common man," I said. "He is not. He is well-bred, and has seen service. He is at once bold and cunning. He has a tongue would win most women, and a hardihood that would chain them to him. Women love bold men," my lady added naïvely. And she smiled on me--yet humorously--so that I blushed. There was silence for a moment. The sail flapped, then filled again. How delicious this morning after that night, this bright expanse after the dark, sluggish channels! Far away in front a great barge, high-laden with a mighty stack of rushes, crept along beside the bank, the horse that drew it covered by a kind of knitted rug. When my lady spoke next, it was abruptly. "Is it Anne?" she asked. I knew quite well what she meant, and blushed again. I shook my head. "I think it was going to be," she said sagely, "only Mistress Dymphna came upon the scene. You have heard the story of the donkey halting between two bundles of hay, Master Francis? And in the multitude of sweethearts there is safety." "I do not think that was my case," I said. Instinctively my hand went to my breast, in which Petronilla's velvet sword-knot lay safe and warm. The Duchess saw the gesture and instantly bent forward and mimicked it. "Ha! ha!" she cried, leaning back with her hands clasped about her knees, and her eyes shining with fun and amusement. "Now I understand. You have left her at home; now, do not deny it, or I will tell the others. Be frank and I will keep your secret, on my honor." "She is my cousin," I said, my cheeks hot. "And her name?" "Petronilla." "Petronilla?" my lady repeated shrewdly. "That was the name of your Spanish grandmother, then?" "Yes, madam."