CHAPTER V 

CASTELL'S SECRET 

In John Castell's house it was the habit, as in most others in those days, for his dependents, clerks, and shopmen to eat their morning and mid-day meals with him in the hall, seated at two lower tables, all of them save Betty, his daughter's cousin and companion, who sat with them at the upper board. This morning Betty's place was empty, and presently Castell, lifting his eyes, for he was lost in thought, noted it, and asked where she might be--a question that neither Margaret nor Peter could answer. 

One of the servants at the lower table, however--it was that man who had been sent to follow d'Aguilar on the previous night--said that as he came down Holborn a while before he had seen her walking with the Spanish don, a saying at which his master looked grave. 

Just as they were finishing their meal, a very silent one, for none of them seemed to have anything to say, and after the servants had left the hall, Betty arrived, flushed as though with running. 

"Where have you been that you are so late?" asked Castell. 

"To seek the linen for the new sheets, but it was not ready," she answered glibly. "The mercer kept you waiting long," remarked Castell quietly. "Did you meet any one?" 

"Only the folk in the street." 

"I will ask you no more questions, lest I should cause you to lie and bring you into sin," said Castell sternly. "Girl, how far did you walk with the Señor d'Aguilar, and what was your business with him?" 
As if she had been what?
flushed as though with running. 