CHAPTER XVII.
Disgrace.
Sir Jocelyn was not without great uneasiness at the result of his interview with De Gondomar.

Had it been possible, he would have avoided a rupture with so influential a personage--an event to be dreaded at any time, but especially so at a juncture like the present, when dangers menaced him on all sides, and the only question appeared to be, from what side the first blow would come.

His chief anxiety, however, was for Aveline, whose position was one of such strange and imminent peril, against which he knew not how to guard her.

He was still left in the same state of uncertainty as to who would be the claimant of her hand; for the mysterious personage in the mask had not appeared again, according to his promise, after the jousts.

This suspense was terrible, and Sir Jocelyn found it so difficult of endurance, that he would have preferred the actual presence of the calamity by which he was threatened.