It is an error which will soon be removed--indeed it shall, for I will live with spotless fame, or I shall cease to live .-- I am accounted, then, the paramour of my Leicester ?" "Most men say of Varney," said Janet; "yet some call him only the convenient cloak of his master's pleasures; for reports of the profuse expense in garnishing yonder apartments have secretly gone abroad, and such doings far surpass the means of Varney.

But this latter opinion is little prevalent; for men dare hardly even hint suspicion when so high a name is concerned, lest the Star Chamber should punish them for scandal of the nobility." "They do well to speak low," said the Countess, "who would mention the illustrious Dudley as the accomplice of such a wretch as Varney .-- We have reached the postern.

Ah! Janet, I must bid thee farewell! Weep not, my good girl," said she, endeavouring to cover her own reluctance to part with her faithful attendant under an attempt at playfulness; "and against we meet again, reform me, Janet, that precise ruff of thine for an open rabatine of lace and cut work, that will let men see thou hast a fair neck; and that kirtle of Philippine chency, with that bugle lace which befits only a chambermaid, into three-piled velvet and cloth of gold--thou wilt find plenty of stuffs in my chamber, and I freely bestow them on you.

Thou must be brave, Janet; for though thou art now but the attendant of a distressed and errant lady, who is both nameless and fameless, yet, when we meet again, thou must be dressed as becomes the gentlewoman nearest in love and in service to the first Countess in England." "Now, may God grant it, dear lady!" said Janet--"not that I may go with gayer apparel, but that we may both wear our kirtles over lighter hearts." By this time the lock of the postern door had, after some hard wrenching, yielded to the master-key; and the Countess, not without internal shuddering, saw herself beyond the walls which her husband's strict commands had assigned to her as the boundary of her walks.
Waiting with much anxiety for their appearance, Wayland Smith stood at some distance, shrouding himself behind a hedge which bordered the high-road.
"Is all safe ?" said Janet to him anxiously, as he approached them with caution.
"All," he replied; "but I have been unable to procure a horse for the lady.

Giles Gosling, the cowardly hilding, refused me one on any terms whatever, lest, forsooth, he should suffer.