"But we must not let the king know that we suspect him," I suggested. "He
may be innocent of the crime. I shall know the truth before to-morrow
night."

"Did you see him at Merlin House?" asked George, turning to Frances.

"No," she answered. "It seems that the drivers of the coach lost their
way. The horses were poor beasts, and, owing to many halts on the road,
our progress was slow. When I first entered the house, an old woman led
me to the room in which you found me. The ropes on my wrists and ankles
had been removed soon after I left London, but I was not allowed to
remove the cloak until after the old woman had closed the door on me.
Then I sat down so stunned that I could hardly think. But it seemed only
a few minutes till I heard dear, brave Betty at the window.
You must have come rapidly."

When we told Frances our side of the story, how Betty had come to
Whitehall to see me and had been the real leader throughout it all,
Frances leaned forward and kissed the girl, saying:--

"God bless her, and you, too, Baron Ned. She is worthy of you, and you
have my consent."

In further discussing Frances's journey, she said that the men who were
with her in the coach were masked and that she did not know them, but she
was sure neither was the king. They did not speak, save to tell the
driver to travel slowly to avoid reaching the house too far ahead of the
"other coach."

The other coach, which Frances said she heard enter the gate, arrived not