“You were the private secretary of Sir Henry Fairfax?”

“I was,” briefly replied Hildebrand.

“Know you this signet?”

“I do,” again he sullenly answered.

“It was given into my keeping,” said the stranger, “as a token whereby Hildebrand Wentworth should, in the due exercise of his fealty and trust, commit to my charge certain documents that shall immediately be set forth.  But first, and briefly, it may be needful to relate the manner in which Sir Henry recovered after your departure.  On the day following the skirmish, wherein Sir Henry was supposed to be mortally wounded, he gave unto you, as his most valued and bosom friend, those solemn credentials, by which, as a dying man, he invested you with full powers to proceed to England, as the sole guardian and protector of his beloved wife and their infant offspring.  The goods and effects of which he died the possessor were vested in your name, I believe, in trust for her benefit and the surviving children.  I think I am right in this?  In case of her death, though, I believe the property became yours.”

“It did.”

“Such was the nature of the wound that his physicians believed a few hours only could intervene before his dissolution.  He urged your immediate departure.  Shortly afterwards the whole camp equipage, together with the sick and wounded, fell into the hands of his enemies.  Driven off to a considerable distance up the Rhine at full speed, and without any other comforts or necessaries than what his captors could supply, his wounds bleeding afresh, and every limb racked with pain, to the astonishment of all he speedily recovered; and from that time he has remained a close prisoner in the fortress.  Not receiving any tidings from his native shores, he knows not his loss.  Yesternight only I heard of Lady Fairfax’s most lamentable decease.  In a cartel lately arrived for negotiating an exchange of prisoners, Sir Henry sends by me, secretly, as one of the envoys, a requisition for the papers I have before mentioned.  His name, by some mistake, perhaps, not being included in the lists for exchange, has induced him so to act.  The credentials, which he will thus be enabled through me to present, will doubtless accomplish his release, and restore him to his family and to his home.  They are papers of great moment, and will set forth claims which cannot be overlooked; and I have most minute and special instructions to get them laid before the council.”

“Where are these precious documents deposited?” said Hildebrand.

“An Eastern cabinet of choice and costly workmanship, containing other records of great value, stands in Sir Henry’s private chamber.”  The envoy looked round, and his eyes rested on the cabinet.  “The outer doors being opened, there are seen two ranges of drawers, with their separate mountings and compartments, each containing materials of greater or less moment.  Sir Henry was minute in his directions, lest his lady might be bsent; and the innermost secrets of this goodly tabernacle not being known, save to themselves, the object of my visit might be retarded.  With the permission of Hildebrand Wentworth, I will describe minutely where he may find this deposit.”