I stared at him. “I do not understand you,” I said coldly. “There ‘s none within but Mistress Percy. She is weary, and rests after her journey. We came from Weyanoke this morning.”

He shook with laughter. “Ay, ay, brave it out!” he cried. “It’s what every man Jack of us said you would do! But all’s known, man! The Governor read the King’s letters in full Council an hour ago. She’s the Lady Jocelyn Leigh; she ‘s a ward of the King’s; she and her lands are to wed my Lord Carnal!”

“She was all that,” I replied. “Now she ‘s my wife.”

“You’ll find that the Court of High Commission will not agree with you.”