My lord is detained, and her Grace has sent a litter requiring thine attendance.

We must haste, for she wills no delay.

Carlotta, my lady's mantilla; quick, girl! Alberic, go if thou wilt: my Lord may be glad of thee! Ay, go," she continued some little time afterwards, as her rapid movements speedily placed her passive, almost senseless mistress, in the litter; and she caught hold of the page's hand with a sudden change of tone, "go; and return speedily, in mercy, Alberic.

Some horror is impending; better know it than this terrible suspense." How long an interval elapsed ere she stood in Isabella's presence, Marie knew not.

The most incongruous thoughts floated, one after another, through her bewildered brain--most vivid amongst them all, hers and her husband's fatal secret: had it transpired?
Was he sentenced, and she thus summoned to share his fate?
And then, when partially relieved by the thought, that such a discovery had never taken place in Spanish annals--why should she dread an impossibility ?--flashed back, clear, ringing, as if that moment spoken, Stanley's fatal threat; and the cold shuddering of every limb betrayed the aggravated agony of the thought.