“I did,” he answered.

“You were a fool,” said Mary.

“I know it,” responded John.

“You certainly bear her no resentment for her treason,” said Mary.

“I certainly do not,” quietly answered John.  “Her suffering is greater than mine.  Can you not see that it is?”

“It is your privilege,” said Mary, scornfully, “to intrust your own secrets to whomsoever you may choose for your confidant, and it is quite saintlike in you to forgive this person for betraying you; but what think you of the hard case in which her treason and your folly have placed me?”

“That is my greatest grief, save for Dorothy,” answered John, softly.  Lived there ever a man possessed of broader charity or deeper love than John?  God surely made him of gold dust, not of common clay.

Queen Mary stepped away from John in disgust, and when she turned she saw me for the first time.  She started and was about to speak, but I placed my fingers warningly upon my lips and she remained silent.

“Where do you take us, Sir William?” asked John.

“To Haddon Hall.  There you will await the commands of the queen.”

“How came you here?” John asked gently of Dorothy.

“I rode Dolcy,” she whispered.  “She dropped dead at the foot of the hill.  Yonder she lies.  I came up the Lathkil by the long road, and I hoped that I might reach you in time to give warning.  When the guard left Haddon I realized the evil that would come upon you by reason of my base betrayal.”  Here she broke down and for a moment could not proceed in the narrative.  She soon recovered and continued:  “Then I mounted Dolcy, and tried to reach here by way of the long road.  Poor Dolcy seemed to understand my trouble and my despair, and she brought me with all the speed that a horse could make; but the road was too long and too rough; and she failed, and I failed.  Would that I could have died in her place.  She gave her life in trying to remedy my fault.”

Dorothy again began to weep, and John tenderly whispered:—­

“All will yet come right” Then he kissed her before us all, and handed her to me saying, “Care for her, I pray you, sir.”

John spoke a few words to Sir William, and in a moment they both went back to the castle.

In a short time the gates were opened, and the Rutland coach drawn by four horses emerged from the castle grounds.  Sir William then directed Mary and Dorothy to enter the coach and requested me to ride with them to Haddon Hall.

The yeoman guards were in marching order, and I took my seat in the coach.  The fates surely were in a humorous mood when they threw Dorothy, Queen Mary, and myself together.  Pause for a moment and consider the situation.  You know all the facts and you can analyze it as well as I. I could not help laughing at the fantastic trick of destiny.

Soon after I entered the coach Sir William gave the word, and the yeomen with Lord Rutland and John moved forward on the road to Haddon.