"I beseech you, my good lord, to let all angry feeling pass away between us. Believe me, I have saved you from a great danger, into which you were persuaded to run, by your regard for the young nobleman who is just gone, contrary to the dictates of your own wisdom and experience." Lord Calverly took his hand, and shook it heartily, saying-- "That is very true, Sir William, that is very true. I never liked the business, and was hard to persuade; but, having once decided, of course I could not suffer myself to be thwarted by a mere child. Pray, now, let us seek for her. I am ready, God knows, to obey the king in everything," he added in a loud tone, for the messenger's ears. "Well, we will seek for her at once," said Arden. "But first let us restore the house to its propriety." The followers of Chartley and of Arden himself were dismissed to their several occupations; the servants of Lord Calverly permitted to depart from the hall; the refreshment of the king's post was provided for; and the search was commenced, Chartley having been called to aid, at the suggestion of his cousin. Every nook and corner of the extensive building was examined, but Iola was not to be found. CHAPTER XXXVI. The search was over. It had proved, as I have said, vain; and Lord Calverly was in a state of bewildered confusion of mind, which it was impossible to describe. Obey the king's commands by placing Iola once more in the abbey of St. Clare of Atherston, he could not do. To explain to Richard the cause of his disobedience was only to accuse himself of a worse fault of the same kind. To frame any excuse, real or false, for his conduct, he knew not how; and his whole anxiety seemed to be to pursue and overtake the fugitive, wherever she might have taken refuge. Several of the servants were examined, in order to obtain some clue to the course which she had followed; but no one could afford any. Her waiting-woman, Susan, was as much grieved, distressed, and anxious as the rest. The porter declared that he had closed every postern before he was shut into his lodging by Sir William Arden; and, at first, the old lord was inclined to suppose that Iola had taken advantage of the keys having been left in the door, to make her escape, while Arden was remonstrating with him in the hall. But, on the one hand, the porter declared that the keys had never been removed from the place where Arden had left them till they were taken to give admission to the king's messenger; and the man who had been shut up with him confirmed the story. They had both watched anxiously, they said, and must have heard the sound of the keys being withdrawn, had such a thing occurred. Sir William's attendant, too, who had given admission to the royal courier, stated that he had found the gates both locked and barred. The girl, Susan, too, showed that she had remained in her mistress's antechamber for nearly three quarters of an hour immediately before she was missed; and every