" Yet Mistress Anne he
did not encounter in person until the occurring of the sad event which
changed for him the whole face of the universe itself, and which took
place a year or more after his kinsman's marriage. The resolution his
Grace had made the day he waited at Camylott for his guests' arrival,
he had kept to the letter, and this often to the wonder of his lordship
of Dunstanwolde, who found cause for regret at the rareness of his
visits to his lady and himself under their own roof. Other visits my
lord Duke had made, as he had planned, passing from one great house to
another in Great Britain, or making stay at the estates of his friends
upon the continent of Europe. Sometimes he was in Scotland, sometimes
in Ireland or Wales, hunting, salmon-fishing, the chief guest at great
reunions, everywhere discussed and envied his freedom from any love
affair, entanglement, or connection with scandal, always a thing which
awakened curiosity.
"The world will have you married, Gerald," said Dunstanwolde. "And 'tis
no wonder! My lady and I would find you a Duchess. I think she looks
for one for you, but finds none to please her taste. She would have a
wondrous consort for you. You do wrong to roam so. You should come to
Dunstan's Wolde that she may have you beneath her eye."
But to Dunstan's Wolde he did not go--not even when, in obedience to
her lord's commands, the Countess herself besought him with gracious
hospitality.
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