"I'd die first," said Lady Gowan to herself; and she stood close to the
foot of the great staircase listening, and hardly daring to breathe, as
she strained her ears to catch some sound of what might be going on
upstairs, her wildly dilated eyes fixed the while on the slips of
windows on either side of the door. But from within the house all she
could hear was a low sobbing from the housekeeper's room below, and the
murmur of her old servant's voice as she tried to calm the hysterical
girl who was nearly crazy with terror.
But her attention was taken up directly by the voices outside, which
came plainly to her through the broken windows.
"Well?" said the officer sharply; and she knew by the reply that one of
the men must have climbed the iron railings and been down into the area.
"Both windows covered with big iron bars, sir, and the door seems a
reg'lar thick 'un."
"How long will they be getting back, sergeant, with the hammer and
crowbars?"
"'Nother ten minutes or quarter-hour, sir."
"Bah! Well, run round to the back, and tell them to keep a sharp
look-out. See that the men are well awake at the end of the street, and
keep two more ready back and front to stop every one who comes out of
the houses in case he tries to escape by the roof."
"Yes, sir."
"If any one appears on the roof, and does not surrender, fire."
The sergeant's heavy paces were heard going along the pavement, every
step seeming to crush down Lady Gowan's heart, as her head swam, and in
imagination she saw the flash of the soldiers' muskets, and then heard
the heavy fall of one for whom she would have gladly died.
Her hand went out to catch at the bottom pillar of the balustrade, and
she stood swaying to and fro in the darkness, struggling hard to master
the terrible sensation of faintness which came over her.
It soon passed off, for the thought came to her that she must be firm.
She was doing nothing to help her husband; but he had bidden her keep
watch there over that door, and guard it against danger from within, and
as a soldier's wife she would have died sooner than neglect the duty
with which he had intrusted her. For how did she know what pressure
might be brought to bear upon the weak woman below? The soldiery had
been into the area, where there were only the glass windows between, and
a broken pane would form an easy way for passage of threats. If bidden
to open in the King's name, what might they not do? Ah, she must guard
against that, and with her nerves newly strung, she stood listening for
a few moments to the buzz of voices outside, and then, feeling that it
was impossible for danger to assail them without warning from the front
door, she went to the head of the stairs which led down into the
basement.
"In the King's name!" she said softly. "Robert is my king, and I can
obey none other."
She was herself again now--the quick, eager, brave woman, ready to do
anything to save her husband's life; and gliding down the stairs she
silently passed the open door of the housekeeper's room, where she could
hear the servant girl sobbing, and the old housekeeper trying to comfort
her and then to comfort herself.
The next minute, quite unheard, she was at the end of the stone passage
where the big, heavy door opened into the area, and began passing her
hand over bolt, bar, and lock, to find all fast; and with a sigh of
relief she was in the act of softly drawing out the big key, when a
movement outside told her that a sentry had been placed at that door,
and that the man must have heard the movement of the key.
This made her pause, with her heart throbbing wildly; but in a minute or
so she recovered herself, and almost by hairbreadths drew the great key
slowly out with scarcely another sound, and crept back along the passage
once more, past the open doorway through which the light streamed, and
then up the stairs, and back to her former position in the dark hall,
feeling confident now that no one could pass into the house from below
unheard.
The voices of the soldiers came to her, and an angry inquiry or two from
the officer, who was getting out of patience.
"Have they gone to the smith's to get the things made?" he cried
angrily.
"Well, sir, you see, it aren't like muskets, or swords, or ammunition,"
said the sergeant. "We don't want pioneering tools every day."
"But they ought to be ready for use at a moment's notice."
"So they are," grumbled the sergeant to himself; "but you've got to get
to 'em first."
And now it appeared to Lady Gowan that an hour passed slowly away,
without news of what was passing upstairs, and her agony seemed to be
more than she could bear. Every sense had been on the strain, as she
stood in trembling expectancy of hearing a shot fired--a shot that she
knew would be at the life of her boy's father; but the sluggish minutes
crawled on, and still all was silent above, while outside she was
constantly hearing little things which showed how thoroughly the
soldiery were on the alert.
She had not heard the officer speak for some time, and she divined that
he must have gone round to the back of the house, where it faced the
open Park; but he would, she was sure, return soon, to give directions
to the men who arrived with the tools for breaking in the door; and when
this was done, if Sir Robert had not found a way to escape, there would
be bloodshed. Her husband would never surrender while he could grasp a
sword, and Frank would be certain to draw in his father's defence, and
then--
Then Lady Gowan felt, as it were, an icy stab, which passed with a shock
right through her; for the thought suggested itself how easy it would be
for the soldiers to get a short ladder into the garden front of the
house, rear it against the balcony outside the drawing-room window, and
force their way in there. No bars would trouble them, and the shutters
would give but little resistance. Why had she not thought of that
before?
And as she thoroughly grasped this weakness of their little fort in the
rear she turned cold with horror, for there was a faint sound on the
staircase behind her, and as at the same moment she heard the loud steps
of approaching men on the pavement outside a hand made a quick clutch
from the darkness behind at her arm.