"I dread," said she, "her disordered mind connects all that her eye
beholds with the terrible passages that she has witnessed."
"Nay," said Fitzosborne, "if noble St. Clere can pardon the unauthorized
interest which, with the purest and most honourable intentions, I have
taken in his sister's fate, it is easy for me to explain this mysterious
impression."
He proceeded to say that, happening to be in the hostelry called the
Griffin, near Baddow, while upon a journey in that country, he had met
with the old nurse of the Lady Emma Darcy, who, being just expelled front
Gay Bowers, was in the height of her grief and indignation, and made loud
and public proclamation of Lady Emma's wrongs. From the description she
gave of the beauty of her foster-child, as well as from the spirit of
chivalry, Fitzosborne became interested in her fate. This interest was
deeply enhanced when, by a bribe to Old Gaunt the Reve, he procured a
view of the Lady Emma as she walked near the castle of Gay Bowers. The
aged churl refused to give him access to the castle, yet dropped some
hints, as if he thought the lady in danger, and wished she were well out
of it.
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