"
"I ought not to betray the secret, perhaps," hesitated the Fair
Geraldine, "but gratitude prompts me to do so. The lady is not so blind
to your grace's merits as I have been."
Indeed! " exclaimed the duke. " If it be so, Surrey, we may yet be
brothers as well as friends."
"And that it is so I can avouch, Richmond," rejoined the earl, "for I am in
my sister's secret as well as the Fair Geraldine. But now that this
explanation has taken place, I must entreat your grace to conduct the
Fair Geraldine back to her lodgings, while I regain, the best way I can,
my chamber in the Round Tower."
"I marvel how you escaped from it," said Richmond; "but I suppose it
was by the connivance of the officer."
"He who set me free--who brought the Fair Geraldine hither--and who, I
suspect, acquainted you with our meeting, was no other than Herne the
Hunter," replied Surrey.
"You amaze me!" exclaimed the duke; "it was indeed a tall dark man,
muffled in a cloak, who informed me that you were to meet at midnight
in King James's bower in the moat, and I therefore came to surprise
you."
"Your informant was Herne," replied Surrey.
"Right!" exclaimed the demon, stepping from behind a tree, where he
had hitherto remained concealed; "it was I--I, Herne the Hunter.
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