as much bewildered as Lady Exeter.

"Will you deny your own handwriting, my Lord?" rejoined Lady Lake; "or
will the Countess? Behold the confession, subscribed by the one, and
witnessed by the other."

"It is a forgery!" shrieked the Countess. "You have charged me with
witchcraft; but you practise it yourself."

"If I did not know it to be false, I could have sworn the hand was
yours, Countess," cried Lord Roos; "and my own signature is equally
skilfully simulated."

"False or not," cried Lady Lake, "it shall be laid before Lord Exeter as
I have said--with all the details--ay, and before the King."

"Before the King!" repeated Lord Roos, as he drew near Lady Exeter, and
whispered in her ear--"Countess, our sole safety is in immediate flight.
Circumstances are so strong against us, that we shall never be able to
disprove this forgery."

"Then save yourself in the way you propose, my Lord," she rejoined, with
scorn. "For me, I shall remain, and brave it out."

The young nobleman made a movement towards the door.

"You cannot go forth without my order, my Lord," cried Sir Thomas Lake.
"It is guarded."

"Perdition!" exclaimed Lord Roos.