"The letter lies in ashes on the hearth," she said. "'Twas burned
unopened. Do not ride so close, Sir John, and do not play the madman and
the beast with the wife of my Lord Dunstanwolde."

"'The wife!'" he answered. "'My lord!' 'Tis a new game this, and well
played, by God!"

She did not so much as waver in her look, and her wide eyes smiled.

"Quite new," she answered him--"quite new. And could I not have played
it well and fairly, I would not have touched the cards. Keep your horse
off, Sir John. Mine is restive, and likes not another beast near him;"
and she touched the creature with her whip, and he was gone like a
thunderbolt.

The next day, being in her room, Anne saw her come from her
dressing-table with a sealed letter in her hand. She went to the bell
and rang it.

"Anne," she said, "I am going to rate my woman and turn her from my
service. I shall not beat or swear at her as I was wont to do with my
women in time past. You will be afraid, perhaps; but you must stay with
me."

She was standing by the fire with the letter held almost at arm's length
in her finger-tips, when the woman entered, who, seeing her face, turned
pale, and casting her eyes upon the letter, paler still, and began to
shake.