ENERAL Lord Fairfax had sent for
Carewe on matters connected

Colonel Carewe on

with his Regiment, which was at that time

stationed at Hounslow. It was about to be despatched to a town in one of the southern counties, where a rising was apprehended; and the General wished to know which among the younger officers the Colonel thought best fitted to take the command. They were in the middle of this discussion, when the news arrived of the Duke's flight; and the measures which were taken in consequence of it, quite prevented the Colonel from returning

Colonel Carewe's Return.

219

to the Palace that night. He himself carried the order for the stopping of the ports to the Custom House, and there learnt that a strange vessel, of which nothing certain was known but her name, 'La Reine des Mers,' had been seen hovering about the mouth of the Thames; that she was provided with a pass for Holland, and had that very evening set sail for the Continent. The time of her departure, when compared with that at which Mr. Francis had seen the two figures leave the garden door, suggested instantly to Colonel Carewe's mind the idea that the Duke of York was on board her, and was probably by this time far out of the reach of his pursuers. General Fairfax agreed in this opinion. when the Colonel reported these facts to him, but the search was still continued in various directions; and it was not till the middle of the next day that Colonel Carewe was able to turn his horse's head homewards. There was a slight bustle going on in the Palace when he arrived, and he was informed by Mr. Francis that the Countess of Carlisle had arrived, and had been closeted with her brother for the last half hour. The Earl of Northumberland, however, had begged to be informed of Colonel Carewe's return directly it took place, as he wished to hear all that had been done for the recovery of the Duke of York. Colonel Carewe therefore proceeded at once to the Earl's room, leaving the worthy Mr. Francis gazing with the most vivid regret at a halffinished translation of one of Horace's odes, which the Duke had begun the day before under his super

intendence, and which was destined to remain in its present incomplete condition for ever. As one of the pages waiting in the ante-room opened the door for Colonel Carewe to enter, he heard Lady Carlisle's voice saying, 'Indeed, brother, you may remember I warned you long ago that she was not a mere baby: even when her father died, she may be supposed to have been old enough to have thoughts and opinions of her own; and you well know what a red-hot cavalier Edmund Fane was.'

The lady's back was towards the door, and Colonel Carewe's entrance did not at first stop the flood of her eloquence, for she was not aware of his presence till the Earl crossed the room to meet him, saying, 'Ah! Carewe, I am glad you are come. No news of the Duke, I suppose?'

'None but what I despatched to your Lordship last night,' said the Colonel, who had sent off a messenger to the Earl immediately on hearing of the sudden departure of the strange vessel.

'Ah,' said the Earl thoughtfully, your surmise with regard to the ship is very probably the correct one. We have some reason to think that your little niece, Mistress Rosamond Fane, knows more about this matter than any one else in the house, except, perhaps, the poor little Princess herself.'

'My niece Rosamond!' ejaculated Colonel Carewe in the extremity of surprise; 'what-how-can little Rosamond know anything about it?'

'Mistress Marian Scrope,' replied Lady Carlisle, interrupting the Earl, who was about to answer,

Rosamond is suspected.

221

says that if any one in the Palace knows anything of the secrets of the Duke and his sister, it must be Mistress Rose, for she has been the Lady Elizabeth's favourite companion and friend throughout the winter, and has many times been the only person in the room when the brother and sister were together.'

'She has been much with the Lady Elizabeth, and is very fond of her, I know; but I cannot imagine the child capable of keeping such a secret. However, if your Lordship pleases, I will send for her, so that you may at once put to her any questions you think fit.'

'Poor child, what an ordeal!' said Lady Carlisle softly; 'would it not be better to leave her to me? I could draw the truth from her without frightening her so much, as if she had to stand a regular examination from you, Algernon.'

'Rosamond is no coward, madam,' replied Colonel Carewe rather stiffly. I think I may venture to say that, if she answers the questions that are put to her at all, she will answer them with perfect truth.'

Lady Carlisle smiled one of those sweet incomprehensible smiles, which left every one in doubt as to its meaning, and presently left the room. She did not think Rosamond was likely to betray her. She understood quite enough of the child's character to know that a promise once given would be kept at all risks; but, for all that, she did not care to be confronted by Rosamond's straightforward truth-telling eyes, and to hear unfolded the scheme

which, she doubted not, had been originated during that interview with Henry Fane which she herself had brought about.

Rosamond obeyed her uncle's summons with very mixed feelings. A large share of shyness and embarrassment was counterbalanced by the relief she felt in thinking that there was now no longer occasion to conceal anything; for the sailing of 'La Reine des Mers' had become known that morning through Mistress Marian Scrope, to whom the Earl had casually mentioned it, and who wondered, when she chanced to tell Anne Thistlewood of the fact in Rosamond's hearing, why the child should give such an eager start, and hasten at once from the room to the Lady Elizabeth's chamber.

The Earl's manner was polite and courteous enough, though, to a child who had any desire to equivocate or deceive, his grave formal questions would have been very alarming. But as Rosamond had no wish of the kind, she neither hesitated nor trembled, but answered at once by a simple 'Yes' his inquiry as to whether she had any knowledge of the Duke's intention to escape. The Earl's next question was if she knew whither he was bound.

'Yes, for Holland in "La Reine des Mers," replied Rosamond, feeling uncomfortable, and by no means triumphant in the consciousness that she was destroying all the Earl's hopes of recovering his truant charge.

Having learnt this important fact, Lord Northumberland did not pursue his inquiries any further at