Brave little Betty at once began the ascent, I standing under her to break the fall if she should take one.  When she had climbed five or six feet from the ground, the vine broke and she fell, landing gracefully on her feet.  Instantly she was at it again, for Betty had a will of her own greatly disproportioned to her size.  Again the vine broke, and when I picked her up I found that she had lost her breath by the fall, but she laughed as soon as her breath returned, and was in no way discouraged.

In a moment she tried again, despite my protest, saying she would go more slowly and use greater care in choosing the larger vines.  This time she was determined to succeed, so she again tied the leather reins about her arm, grasped the vine, and within two minutes was standing on the upper coping of the second-story window, her waist on a level with the sill of the window of the star.

The wind howling through the trees and around the corner of the tower made so great a din that at first we did not hear what Betty said to attract Frances’s attention, but presently, the storm lulling for a moment, we listened intently and heard her say:—­

“It is Betty Pickering.”

We supposed she spoke in response to an inquiry from within, and we were right, for almost instantly the curtains parted, the window opened, and we saw Frances standing in the light of Raphael’s star—­a candle.

Up to that time I had been incredulous of Lilly’s wisdom, and while I had hoped to find my cousin, I had little faith in the result.  But now conviction came with a shock and, notwithstanding my joy at seeing Frances, I found myself forgetting where I was in wondering whether Lilly were a god, a devil, or merely a shrewd charlatan who had obtained his wonderfully accurate knowledge from something that had happened in the past wherein the king was concerned, or from some one who knew where Frances had been taken.

I was awakened from my revery by hearing George call in a low voice to Frances, telling her to fasten the ends of the leathers to a bedpost or a heavy piece of furniture, and asking her if she could come down hand under hand.  She answered that she could and took the end of the reins from Betty.  After a minute or two spent by Frances back in the room, she reappeared, tossed her cloak down to us, climbed out the window, and stood for a moment beside Betty on the lower window cap.  I heard Betty encouraging her, and presently Frances began her descent, reaching the ground safely.  George would have been demonstrative, but I interrupted him, saying:—­

“Be ready to help me catch Betty in case she falls!”

Betty started down, but George called to her, telling her to climb into the room, loosen the reins, and throw them out.

“But how shall I go down?” asked Betty, whose nerve was deserting her.

“You must come down as you climbed up—­by the vines,” returned George.