mistress to the Duke of Buckingham. And so her husband challenged him,
and they met yesterday in a close near Barne-Elmes, and there fought;
and my Lord Shrewsbury is run through the body, from the right breast
through the shoulder; and Sir John Talbot all along up one of his
armes; and Jenkins killed upon the place, and the rest all, in a little
measure, wounded. This will make the world think that the King hath good
Councillors about him, when the Duke of Buckingham, the greatest man
about him, is a fellow of no more sobriety than to fight about a
mistress."

It is said that the Countess, in the guise of a page, accompanied her
lover to the scene of this bloodthirsty duel; held his horse as, with
sparkling eyes, she saw her husband receive his death-blow; and, when
the foul deed was done, flung her arms around the assassin's neck in a
transport of gratitude and affection. Never surely since Judas sent his
Master to his death with a kiss has the world witnessed such an infamous
betrayal.

From the scene of this tragedy the Duke escorted the Countess-page to
his own home, where he installed her as his avowed mistress in the eyes
of the world, at the same time ordering the carriage which was to take
his outraged wife back to her father's house. Even in such an abandoned
and profligate Court as that of Charles II., the news of this dastardly
crime and Lady Shrewsbury's callous treachery was received with
execration, while a thrill of horror and fierce indignation ran through
the whole of England. But the Countess and her paramour smiled at the
storm they had brought on their heads, and with brazen insolence
flaunted their amour in the face of the world.

Now that the Countess's husband had been removed from their path the