might in this manner recover portion of his estate. The fact of
the lady never having seen him did not interfere with his plans;
that she would reject his suit seemed an impossibility; that she
would succumb to the fascination he invariably exercised over
woman was a certainty. Nor did it matter that Mistress Fairfax
was no beauty; for the duke, being grateful for past favours
liberally bestowed by the opposite sex, had no intention of
becoming under any circumstances churlish enough to limit his
devotion to one lady, though she were his wife.

Carefully disguising himself, he journeyed to London, where he
was met by a faithful friend, who promised he would aid him in
winning Mistress Fairfax, towards which end he promptly
introduced the duke to that estimable gentlewoman. Having once
obtained speech of her, the remainder of his scheme was
comparatively easy of accomplishment. She loved the gay and
graceful gallant at first sight, and through years of bitter
wrong and cruel neglect continued his faithful and devoted slave.

Though she had become clandestinely acquainted with him, she was
too good a daughter to wed without her father's consent. But
this she had not much difficulty in obtaining. Though Lord
Fairfax had fought against his king, he was not sufficiently
republican to scorn alliance with nobility, nor so thoroughly
puritan as to disdain connection with the ungodly. Accordingly
he gave his sanction to the union, which was celebrated at his
mansion at Nun Appleton, within six miles of York. Now, my Lord
Fairfax had not consulted Cromwell's goodwill concerning this
alliance, the news of which reaching the Protector in due time,
made him exceedingly wroth. For he had daughters to marry, and,