THE LADY PILGRIM. 83 
him. At length it was given, and he opened the 
door of the reception room, and looked in. 
“ Dudley,” said the old man, hurriedly, “ say to 
the Lady Arabella that her father and the Duke 
of Devonshire request an immediate interview. 
They wait her presence.” 
“ Ay, it is as I thought,” muttered the old man, 
as he moved slowly away in the direction of his 
lady’s chamber: “the duke scents more precious 
game than could be started in the park this morn¬ 
ing ; but it will be in vain — all in vain.” 
He paused, after having ascended the oaken stair¬ 
case, before a door leading into a chamber, the 
most spacious and luxurious in the castle. It 
would seem that every delicacy had been brought 
into requisition, by the Earl of Lincoln, to adorn 
and beautify the room in which his darling 
daughtei spent the sunny days of her maidenhood. 
Rich vases of flowers loaded the mantel-piece and 
tables, while splendidly-bound books were scat¬ 
tered here and there throughout the room. In the 
dark recesses of one of the windows, the Lady 
xlrabella herself was seated, busily engaged with 
a book of devotions. While one little, dainty 
hand supported her cheek, the other, with a small 
circlet of gold around the wrist, hung over the arm 
of the high-backed chair in which she reposed. 
Her dress was of white, made in the peculiar fash¬ 
ion of that day, and her hair,, soft and brown, was 
combed smoothly back from her high, intellectual 
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