It appeared that she was an aunt, sworn to the service of the Count, and had Jehane safe in a tower under lock and key.

Gaston retired into the woods to meditate.

There he wrote five identic notes to the prisoner.
The first he gave to a boy whom he found birds'-nesting.

'Take a turtle's nest, sweet boy,' said Gaston, 'to my lady Jehane; say it is first-fruits of the year, and win a silver piece.

Beware of an old lady with a jaw like a flat-iron.' The second he gave to a woodman tying billets for the Castle ovens; the third a maid put in her placket, and he taught her the fourth by heart in a manner quite his own and very much to her taste.