She flung out into the passage and asked the lad if the
horse was ready.
"Aye, Sir!" he said, impudently. She flung him a bag of gold with a
show of masculine strength. Out it flew through the open window, down
to the pavement, frightening the steed from his groom, who first
stopped to pluck the bag before giving chase to the wily horse. Down
came the scullion, followed close by the gay young fop, who waited
impatiently outside the door. The guard looked on indifferently,
his eyes fixed upon the groom, rather than the young man that paced
restlessly up and down the courtyard.
At last Lady Constance dashed out upon the highway with a smile of
cunning on her face, a devil's flash from her eyes, a haughty curving
on her lips, and her heart beating faster and faster, the nearer she
drew to the King's palace. "One masque is as fair as another, and
methinks the King's eye will open wider at my boldness than at
Mistress Penwick's plain dissembling, should he require a fair show of
our feigning. He will love me for my daring and for bringing him the
knowledge aforetime of the maid's deception.
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