Nor could all that Jocelyn said remove her misgivings; and, in consequence, their meeting was sadder than usual.
On the next day, these forebodings of impending calamity were most unexpectedly realised.

A mysterious personage, wrapped in a long black cloak, and wearing a mask, entered her dwelling without standing upon the ceremony of tapping at the door.

His presence occasioned her much alarm, and it was not diminished when he told her, in a stern, and peremptory tone, that she must accompany him to Sir Giles Mompesson's habitation.

Refusing to give any explanation of the cause of this strange summons, he said she would do well to comply with it,--that, indeed, resistance would be idle as Sir Giles was prepared to enforce his orders; and that he himself would he responsible for her safety.
Compelled to be satisfied with these assurances, Aveline yielded to the apparent necessity of the case, and set forth with him, attended by Dame Sherbourne.

With what passed during her interview with the extortioner the reader is already acquainted.