"
"The woman was in the kitchen some half hour agone, conveying her
mistress a warm draught, or some such puling diet," said the page.
"Haste," cried Sir John impatiently, marvelling at this unexpected
intelligence,--"the lad is blinded by some misapprehension. I'll forfeit
my best jewel she is not in her chamber. This interlude works i' the
plot--part of the trickery now enacting."
But the page made a quick return.
"What news?" said Finett.
"The lady is gone to rest; something discomposed, though, and out of
spirits. So says her maiden, whom I would have questioned more
straitly, but she rebuked me sharply for my impertinence."
"Pray you send and question her," said Sir John.
"Nay," returned Sir Gilbert, smiling, "I'll be bound the lady is safe;
and her maiden has other guess-matters to look to than letting out the
secrets of her mistress's chamber."
They were obliged to rest satisfied, or rather unsatisfied, with this
answer. But the mystery was more and more inexplicable. Either some
laughable mistake or some deep-laid villany was intended. Sir John dared
not pursue the subject to this extremity.
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