A
barge gayly painted and gilded, with a light in prow and stern,
came gliding up among less pretentious craft, and stopped at the
foot of a flight of stairs leading to the bridge. It contained
four persons - the oarsman, two cavaliers sitting in the stern,
and a lad in the rich livery of a court-page in the act of
springing out. Nothing very wonderful in all this; and Sir
Norman and Ormiston looked at her for an explanation.
"Do you know those two gentlemen?" she asked.
"Certainly," replied Sir Norman, promptly; "one is the Duke of
York, the other the Earl of Rochester."
"And that page, to which of them does he belong?"
"The page!" said Sir Norman, with a stare, as he leaned forward
to look; "pray, madam, what has the page to do with it?"
"Look and see!"
The two peers has ascended the stairs, and were already on the
bridge. The page loitered behind, talking, as it seemed, to the
waterman.
"He wears the livery of the Earl of Rochester," said Ormiston,
speaking for the first time, "but I cannot see his face."
"He will follow presently, and be sure you see it then! Possibly
you may not find it entirely new to you.
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