Do you recollect the woman who rushed screaming out of the home of the dead bride ?" "Yes, yes!" "Well, that was Prudence.

She and La Masque were talking so earnestly they did not perceive me, and I--well, the fact is, Kingsley, I stayed and listened.

Not a very handsome thing, perhaps, but I couldn't resist it.

They were talking of some one they called Leoline, and I, in a moment, knew that it was your flame, and that neither of them knew any more of her whereabouts than we did." "And yet La Masque told me to come here in search of her," interrupted Sir Norman.
"Very true! That was odd--wasn't it?
This Prudence, it appears, was Leoline's nurse, and La Masque, too, seemed to have a certain authority over her; and between them, I learned she was to have been married this very night, and died--or, at least, Prudence thought so--an hour or two before the time." "Then she was not married ?" cried Sir Norman, in an ecstasy of delight.
"Not a bit of it; and what is more, didn't want to be; and judging from the remarks of Prudence, I should say, of the two, rather preferred the plague." "Then why was she going to do it?
You don't mean to say she was forced ?" "Ah, but I do, though! Prudence owned it with the most charming candor in the world." "Did you hear the name of the person she was to have married ?" asked Sir Norman, with kindling eyes.
"I think not; they called him the count, if my memory serves me, and Prudence intimated that he knew nothing of the melancholy fate of Mistress Leoline.

Most likely it was the person in the cloak and slouched hat we saw talking to the watchman." Sir Norman said nothing, but he thought a good deal, and the burden of his thoughts was an ardent and heartfelt wish that the Court L'Estrange was once more under the swords of the three robbers, and waiting for him to ride to the rescue--that was all! "La Masque urged Prudence to go back," continued Ormiston; "but Prudence respectfully declined, and went her way bemoaning the fate of her darling.