"I am afraid her
ladyship cannot see very clearly."
"I see clearly enough that a trick has been practised upon me," Lady
Lake rejoined sharply. "But let Lord Roos look to himself. I will have
my revenge, and a terrible one it shall be."
"Do not commit yourself," said Sir Thomas in a low tone.
"Your business here is at an end, fair maiden," said the Conde de
Gondomar to Gillian; "and as your lover abandons you, I am ready to take
charge of you."
So saying he led her forth, followed by Lord Roos, whose smile of
triumph exasperated his mother-in-law almost beyond endurance.
For a moment Dick Tayerner remained irresolute; but his mistress had no
sooner disappeared, than he rushed after her, vowing he would have her
back if it cost him his life.
CHAPTER XXVII.
The Puritan's Prison.
Hugh Calveley, it has already been intimated, was lodged in a vault
beneath the gateway. The place was commonly used as a sort of black-hole
for the imprisonment of any refractory member of the royal household, or
soldier on guard guilty of neglect of duty. Circular in shape, it
contained a large pillar, to which iron rings and chains were attached.
The walls were of stone, the roof arched with ribs springing from the
pillar that supported it, and the floor was paved. Window there was
none; but air was admitted through a small grated aperture in the roof;
and thus imperfectly ventilated, it will not be wondered at that the
vault should be damp.
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