There was a stir. 'The ambassador is coming out,' said the hall porter;
'you must not stand in the way.'
The well-trained ear of this guardian of the gate was conversant with
every combination of sound which the apartments of Sequin Court could
produce. Close as the doors might be shut, you could not rise from your
chair without his being aware of it; and in the present instance he was
correct. A door at the end of the hall opened, and the Spanish minister
came forth.
'Stand aside,' said the hall porter to Tancred; and, summoning the
servants without, he ushered his excellency with some reverence to his
carriage.
'Now your letter will go in with the others,' he said to Tancred, whom
for a few moments he left alone, and then returned, taking no notice of
our young friend, but, depositing his bulky form in his hooded chair, he
resumed the city article of the _Times_.
The letter ran thus:
'Dear Sidonia: This will be given you by my cousin Montacute, of whom
I spoke to you yesterday. He wants to go to Jerusalem, which very much
perplexes his family, for he is an only child. I don't suppose the
danger is what they imagine. But still there is nothing like experience,
and there is no one who knows so much of these things as yourself.
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