“Then let it be at Beaufort House,” replied Wilton:  “I sleep there to-night.  But why should we not settle and determine the whole at once?  Tell me but where is this place to which they have taken Lady Laura, and I will undertake to rescue her.”

“You alone, Wilton?” said Green.

“Aided by none but the Messenger,” replied Wilton:  “armed with the force of the law, I fear not whom I encounter.”

“Armed with the force of love!” answered Green, after looking at him for a moment with eyes in which affection and admiration were equally evident.  “You want not the spirit of your race; and it will carry you through.  If you will promise me to take none but the Messenger with you, you shall have some one to guide you to the house, and to aid you on my part.  I need not tell you what you have to do.  Demand the young lady’s liberty simply and straightforwardly; say to all those who oppose you, that the task of investigating what have been the causes, and who the perpetrators of the outrage committed, must fall upon the Duke; that you have no authority to meddle with that part of the business.  Say this, I repeat, and I doubt not that you will be fully successful.  They dare not—­I am sure they dare not—­resist you, if you do not attempt to arrest any of their own number.”

“I promise you most faithfully,” replied Wilton, “to act as you have said.  I will go with the Messenger and the person you send only.  But where am I to meet this person?  When, and how, and where, am I to find the house?”

“You would find it with difficulty,” replied Green; “for it lies far off from the high road, not many miles from Rochester; and the lanes and woods about it are not arranged for the purpose of making it easily discovered.  You must not, therefore, attempt to find your way alone.  However, set out early to-morrow with strong fresh horses, and ride on till you come to the village of High Halstow.  Should you reach that place before nightfall, remain there till it turns dusk.  As it begins to become grey, ride out again, taking the way towards Cowley Castle.  As you go along that road, you will find some one to show you the way.  He will ask you what colour you are of.  Answer him ‘Brown,’ but that ‘Green’ will do as well.  I would be there myself if I could; but that, I fear, cannot be.  Let me hear of you and of your success, however—­though I will not doubt your success; and now, are you going back to Beaufort House?  If so, I will bear you company on the way.”

Wilton replied in the affirmative, and they accordingly left the house of the Earl of Sunbury.  Wilton, however, had to procure his horse; and Green also was delayed, for a moment, by the same piece of business.  When all was prepared, he seemed to hesitate and pause before he mounted; and while he yet remained speaking, with his foot in the stirrup, a boy ran up, saying, “I have just been down, sir, and seen him go in.”

Green gave him a note which he had held in his hand during the whole conversation at Lord Sunbury’s, saying, “Take him that note!  Tell the servant to deliver it immediately.  If Lord Sherbrooke asks who sent it, tell him it was the gentleman who wrote it, and who hopes to meet him at the appointed place.”  The boy ran off with the note as fast as he could go, and Wilton and his companion turned their horses’ heads towards Chelsea.