The strange errand of my chief now assumed yet more mystery, in spite of his forewarnings.
"This will do," said she softly, at length.

The driver already had pulled up.
So, then, I thought, she had been here before.

But why?
Could this indeed be her residence?
Was she incognita here?
Was this indeed the covert embassy of England?
There was no escape from the situation as it lay before me.

I had no time to ponder.

Had the circumstances been otherwise, then in loyalty to Elisabeth I would have handed my lady out, bowed her farewell at her own gate, and gone away, pondering only the adventures into which the beckoning of a white hand and the rustling of a silken skirt betimes will carry a man, if he dares or cares to go.