CHAPTER XI

_Wherein Sir Hugh Richmond Finds Me, Not Unwilling, Thrust upon Him_

BOOK II

THE KEEPING OF A WIFE

_As Described by the Gentleman Who Did It,

with an Incidental Digression by

the Lady Herself_

CHAPTER XII

_In Which I, Sir Hugh Richmond, Who Tell This Tale, Find That It Is

Easier to Marry Lady Katharine Clanranald than to Keep Her for My Own_

CHAPTER XIII

_Wherein I Set Down in Due Course the Resolution to Which I Came,

Which Boded Ill to the King, as I Rode Southward_

CHAPTER XIV

_Wherein, by the Grace of God, Our Own Determination, and the Speed

of Our Good Horses, We Reach Monkwearmouth in Time_

CHAPTER XV

_Shows How the Lord Chief Justice of England Kept a Love Tryst and

What Befell Him at the Boar's Head Inn_

CHAPTER XVI

_How My Lord Stenwold Settled His Account and Paid His Debt in Full_

CHAPTER XVII

_In Which Lady Katharine Richmond, at the Request of Her Husband,

Tells How She and Lord Stenwold Came to Stenwold House_

CHAPTER XVIII

_Wherein Lady Katharine Describes What Took Place in the Antechamber

Where the King Made Love to Her_

CHAPTER XIX

_Wherein Sir Hugh Richmond Interrupts a Tête-à-Tête Between His Wife

and one James Stewart_

CHAPTER XX

_How Sir Hugh and Lady Katharine, with Some Assistance from General

Feversham, at Last and Finally Overcame the Majesty of England_

BOOK I

THE WINNING OF A HUSBAND

_As set forth by the Lady of the Quest,

with a necessary Interlude by the

Gentleman in Person_

_Chapter_

I

_In which I, Lady Katharine Clanranald, come to

a desperate but manly Resolution_

"Time," said the councillor gravely, "is all that we lack."

"And money, sir," I added most disconsolately.

"True," was the somewhat amused answer of the grim old attorney.

"The King hath very pressing need of money ever, and with the Stuart

disposition there goeth always the itching palm of Cassius."

"That last need," I commented thoughtfully, "might be supplied in

some measure. There are the jewels of the Countess, my lady mother,

and my own as well."

"And though the estates be confiscate," returned Master Dunner,

"there are certain moneys in my charge which the justiciaries wot not

of, and which are available for any purpose that will serve my lord."

"Nay, sir, I would not have you jeopard your own savings," I burst

out hurriedly, but he straightway checked me.

"Your ladyship," he said softly, "I am not only an attorney, but in a

remote degree I am kin to your family and of your blood. My

ancestors followed Clanranald in peace and war. They served him with

the sword, I with the pen, 'tis true, but natheless..."

"Master Dunner," said I, vastly touched, "you say true, and for the

Earl I accept your proffer. Think ye that together we could raise

two thousand pounds?"

"With your ladyship's jewels and those of the family which you took

precaution to remove before the troopers seized the house, I think

with my own poor savings added thereto we might even compass three

thousand."

"Scots?" quoth I.

"English, madam."

"'Tis a goodly sum."

"Ay, indeed, but as I had the honour to tell you a moment since, 'tis

not money we lack but time."

"Will you explain that to me again, Master Attorney?"

Indeed, I had become quite bewildered by the sudden changes of

fortune which had plunged us into this dire misery.

"'Tis true undoubtedly, madam, that your honoured father did conspire

with the Duke of Monmouth or his partisans in Scotland to raise the

country in revolt against King Jamie of England, his brother, but

there were extenuating circumstances. He was in a manner forced into

the enterprise, although his influence and voice were ever raised in

restraint. I have prepared a brief here, well attested. Indeed,

those of the meaner sort lately executed for treason have cheerfully

borne testimony to the Earl's unwillingness, and I have here their

depositions. Then, too, there is a recommendation from the Lord

Chief Justice, together with a petition signed by various gentlemen

praying the King to exercise his royal clemency. If we could get

that into his hands backed by that sum of money of which we have

spoke, I think there would be no doubt that His Majesty would be

pleased to commute the sentence."

He smiled confidently as he concluded.

"Why not send it to him at once then?" I asked rather sharply. "Why

delay and waste hours in idle talking?"

"But, your ladyship, I have told you there is no time."

"What mean you?"

"The proceedings in the trial, which was most unduly hurried despite

our earnest protests and in which no proper opportunity was given to

establish these facts, have been sent to His Majesty in London. On

account of the Earl's rank and importance, a royal warrant is

required for his execution."

I shuddered at that word, but Master Dunner ran on inflexibly,

knowing that I was privy to the worst already.

"The findings of the court were approved with most unseemly haste,

and a royal warrant issued which is even now on the way. I have had

private advices from a correspondent in London, who hath interest at

the Court, that the warrant is being despatched to Edinburgh in the

personal custody of Sir Hugh Richmond, an officer of the Royal Army.

My messenger coming post-haste hath outstripped him, in part because

he hath been obliged to deliver other similar warrants, which hath

made his progress slower than one who comes direct."

"But have you not appealed to the Lord Chief Justice to delay the

execution of the warrant until we can communicate with the King?" I

asked earnestly.

"Madam, I have, but he is inflexible. He says he hath no power,

though with the best will in the world, to stay the execution of a

royal warrant."

"But if I should appeal to him?"

"You might as well appeal to the Tolbooth itself."

"Then the case is hopeless?"

"Ay," said the old man gently enough, but with such decision as

carried conviction to my sinking heart, "unless by some means the

delivery of the warrant can be estopped until we have access to the

King."

"Could the messenger be bribed?"

"I fear not. Sir Hugh Richmond is, I am told, a man of independent

fortune, a proved soldier, a loyal gentleman."

"I meant not with money, old friend," I replied, smiling at him.

"By Heaven!" answered the advocate, looking me full in the eyes, "if

any power could do it, it would be your fair face, my lady, and,

given you time and opportunity, I believe you might win any man to

your thinking, but here again 'tis impossible."

"But if some one took the warrant from him by force?"

"That would answer," said the advocate, "but who is to do it, madam?

It would be high treason in the first place and certain death in the

second, and in the present unsettled state of affairs, or rather

settled in His Majesty's interest, you could not get a man to lift a

hand."

He shook his head gloomily as he finished.

"Could I not?" I replied reflectively. "There are..."

And then I stopped.

I had plenty of friends to be sure, and I did not doubt that among

them I might find some of sufficient devotion and daring to risk life

and fortune to do me this service. Whoever did it, however, would

want a reward commensurate with the risk incurred, and with the

service rendered. I knew full well what that reward would be. It

would be myself, and there was not one among the gay gallants who had

paid me court--and who, I doubt not, even now would be at my side, or

at my feet, were I not in close hiding, thinking to serve my father

better at large than if I were with him in the prison--that I would

marry. I was as heart-whole and fancy-free as any maid in Scotland,

and would fain remain so; though, if it came to a pinch, I would of

course sacrifice my own freedom to any gallant gentleman who would

save my good old father's life.

He and I were the last of the Clanranalds. Brother I had had, but he

had died two years before, and my mother had long since preceded him.

My father and I had been much together at Clanranald House, and I

loved him with a devotion, I think, which passed that entertained by

most Scottish maids for their fathers. I did not desire to marry

anybody. I wanted my father's life saved. I wished to be back again

at Clanranald House, the old, sweet, free life flowing on as it did

before this bastard Monmouth and his futile ambitions came athwart

our path. But that was not to be. Surely some other way might be

found to stop the messenger. I strained my wits hard to devise one.

"Madam," said Master Dunner, who had been scrutinising me searchingly

as these thoughts ran through my troubled brain, "you know how gladly

I would assume the adventure myself, were it not..."

He looked down very sadly at his poor clubbed foot and shrunken limb,

which had made him an attorney instead of a soldier. He was older

than my father, too, and could with difficulty sit a horse.

"I know your will, sir," I interrupted quickly, catching him by the

hand, "but that is not to be thought of."

"What, then?"

That he, with all his shrewdness and resource, should ask the

question of me, a woman, proved as nothing else the hopelessness of

the situation. Yet the question was a sharp spur to my imagination.

It seemed to force choice among the men who had paid court to me at

Clanranald House in happier days.

"Let me think," replied I, as I passed in rapid review the various

young gentlemen of my acquaintance. There was not one of them who

was acceptable as a husband in the least degree to me. There must be

some other way, and yet... I came to a sudden decision.

"I will do it myself," I said boldly with a flash of inspiration.

"You, my lady?" exclaimed the attorney in great amaze.

"Why not I? I can use a small sword with most men of my

acquaintance. My father hath given me much of his own skill, and I

have never hesitated to cross blades in friendly bout with any of our

guests at home. As for other weapons, I have often ranged moor and

glen with the Earl; I have brought down a stag and know the use of

small arms."

"But you are a woman."

"Can I not for the nonce be a man?" I asked. "What's to hinder,

indeed?"

"And do you imagine that, even if you were to attempt to carry out

this mad scheme, you could get the better of a tried soldier, an

experienced man of the world as rumour accrediteth Sir Hugh Richmond

to be?" asked the old man with a slightly ironic touch.

"Since time and the world began, Master Dunner, weak woman, backed by

her wit and finesse, hath got the better of strong man," I replied

with spirit.

"But you are proposing to approach him as a man."

"I shall be not less a woman for all that," I retorted triumphantly,

veering to the other side of the argument, "and being all a woman and

half a man..."

"Which half, madam?"

"The outward and visible shape thereof," I answered, blushing.

The little attorney laughed grimly.

"'Fore God," he said, "forgive me, madam, but the thought of you

as..."

"Master Dunner," said I imperiously, "I am a tall woman as women

go"--and I fervently thanked God for the first time in my heart for

that fact, heretofore something of a grief to me, since your small

women were the fashion then and thereafter--"and I doubt not I will

make a braw man enough."

"But your face, madam ... your hair ... your voice?"

"I will cut my hair."

"Would you sacrifice...?"

"Peace, man! What is the loss of a few locks, that will grow again,

beside my father's head. I will darken my face a bit--indeed, had it

been summer instead of spring I should have been brown enough to pass

muster--I will wear a wig, and my voice," it was a deep contralto,

"will serve. You must get me a suit of clothes, boots, coat, and ...

the other things; a sword, let it be a good one; pistols ... and,

behold! I am transformed."

"And suppose that I fall in with this mad plan of yours, may I ask

what further do you intend to assay?"

"Which way rides the messenger?"

"Madam, he comes through Berwick and the road along the shore."

"Will he go to Dalkeith?"

"I think not. Rather by way of Dunbar and Prestonpans."

"When do you expect him?"

"He should be here to-morrow."

"Good!" said I decisively. "'Tis yet early morning and there is

time. Where will he lie to-night?"

"I should think perhaps at Cockenzie. There is an inn there, The

Black Douglas, of much repute for travellers, and 'tis an easy

journey thence to Edinburgh. He was to stop a night at Berwick,

another at Dunbar."

He had the route pat enough, to be sure!

"Think you that your information is to be depended upon?"

"Madam, I believe so."

"I will meet him, then, at Cockenzie. What say you is the name of

this famous hostelry?"

"The Black Douglas. But what are your plans then?"

"To act as circumstances may dictate."

"My dear lady," said the old man, coming nearer to me, "forgive my

presumption. I have served your race long and well. You have no one

left to advise you but me, humble though I am. I must ask to know

more of your plans before I consent to aid you."

"And I cannot tell you just exactly what I hope to do."

"But in a general way?"

"In some way or other I shall take from him his despatch-bag,

abstract therefrom the warrant for my father. You shall describe it

to me so I may identify it easily."

"But..."

"Ask me no more!" I cried. "I am resolved upon it. If you will not

help met I shall go myself without your aid."

"Misfortune may befall you."

"What of that? If I am to lose my father, I care not what becomes of

me."

"But others care."

"Nay, for no others do I care."

"Madam," he said gravely, "I do think that a bit unkind."

"But for thee," I answered quickly, discerning the trend of his

thought. "But because I hold you in honour and you are my last, my

only friend, the one being to whom I can appeal, I beg of you

question me no further, but give me your aid. The risk is for my

father's life and his peril justifieth anything."

"You have won me, madam," said the old man, deeply touched I could

see. "Tell me what you wish me to do."

"Procure me clothes suited to my new emprise, a horse--and see that

he be a speedy and spirited one, no ambling woman's pad for me, but

the best that can be got; money sufficient for any possible wayside

need, say a hundred pounds; a sword, an Andrew Ferrara if you can

come at one in a hurry; pistols for the holsters; a saddlebag

containing toilet necessaries; a horseman's cloak."

"They shall be here in an hour," said the old man. "I have a suit of

your brother's, a riding-suit, which he left at my house when last he

visited Edinburgh before his death. 'Tis complete in all points and

will fit you, I doubt not, to perfection."

He was a year older than I, but he had been dead two years and I had

had time to catch up with him.

"There is a sword that belonged to my father as well. 'Tis a tried

blade," said the old man. "I could not give it into worthier hands,

and 'tis well adapted to your size, for my father was a man of slight

build and did not swing the ponderous claymores of your ancestors."

"I am greatly pleased by your willingness to entrust it to me, Master

Dunner. I hope I may use it as worthily as your father did or any of

our house."

"Madam, you do me proud," said the old gentleman, bowing like a

courtier. "As for the rest, I will make shift somehow. Would that I

could go with you myself!"

"Would that you could," replied I, "but 'tis not to be thought of,

and there is work for you to do as well."

"What is that?"

"The ransom money," said I. "It must be raised and put in bills of

exchange upon London. The papers must be prepared."

"Ay," was the answer, "and if God grant you be successful, they must

be despatched to London at once."

"If I am successful, and I must be, I shall take them myself."

"You are your father's daughter!" cried the attorney.

"If you have these things here within the hour, I can reach Cockenzie

by nightfall. You should see me back to-morrow. Where shall I meet

you?"

"Here," said the advocate. "The woman who keeps the house is devoted

to me. No one suspects what this mean dwelling harbours, and 'tis

the safest appointment I can give you."

"All's arranged then," said I, giving him my hand.

He bent low over it, and I felt that it had never been pressed by

worthier lips than those of the honest advocate.

_Chapter_

II

_Wherein worthy Master Dunner finds My Lord Carthew's Clothes vastly

becoming to me as I ride away_

Master Dunner was as good as his word. In half an hour there was a

huge package, carefully tied up, delivered at the door by one of his

clerks. I took it to my own chamber and eagerly cut the lashings.

It was a complete suit, of blue and silver. In my distraction,

anxiety, and apprehension I had time to think how vastly it became my

fair skin and blue eyes and bright hair. I had a wealth of the

latter, and I confess, in spite of my brave words, that it was with a

considerable pang that I had the woman who kept the house come into

the room and, with clumsy, unskilful fingers, crop my long locks with

her scissors. Fortunately my hair was curly, and, had it not been

that the styles were otherwise, methought as I looked in the glass

that the short ringlets were not unbecoming. With the suit were wig

to go on one end of me and boots for the other. I was of my

brother's height, but my feet were smaller than his; nevertheless, to

my great satisfaction, the boots served well.

In my petticoats I was a tall woman; dressed as I found myself

presently, I was rather an undersized man, yet not altogether

insignificant. My face did look painfully fair: my cheeks pink and

white, my upper lip innocent of the faintest suggestion of a

moustache; yet, out of some paste from my toilet-table, I did

contrive to dull the colour in my cheeks and to impart a brownish

cast to my complexion that robbed it of a little of its femininity.

My voice, which luckily happened to be a deep contralto, I could

manage well enough.

With the suit was a riding-cloak, which I draped about me, and

fancied that thus equipped no one could penetrate my disguise. I

bore a striking likeness to my brother, too, thus apparelled. It

went to my heart, when I looked at myself, to think of my father

under sentence of death; alone, childless, save for one poor girl.

I had scarce finished adjusting my wig, clapping my hat upon it,

walking up and down the room to accustom myself to the strange garb,

when Master Dunner was announced. As he opened the door, he started

back in great surprise at what he saw of me.

"'Fore God," he said, "did I not know, I should think it Lord

Carthew"--my brother's courtesy title--"in life again."

His eyes travelled upward and rested upon my face. He shook his head.

"Save for that burning blush, the imitation is perfect."

"I think," said I, "that I shall not fly my colours in that way

again. You see"--I sat down as I spoke and gathered my cloak about

my legs, of which for the first time in my life I became acutely

conscious--"you see, I expect that all others who look upon me will

regard me as a man, while you know that I am but a woman, and..."

"I see," said the advocate, gravely smiling at my logic.

"It was foolish of me to blush," said I contritely, "seeing that you

are older than my father."

"I held you in my arms when you were christened, my lady," remarked

the old man simply, but with feeling.

"I know," I answered.

I rose to my feet and threw back my cloak. I must get accustomed, I

thought, to these strange clothes and the world's scrutiny. No

better opportunity presented itself for beginning than then and there.

"Hast brought the sword?" I asked, struggling to forget my garb.

For answer he handed it to me, belt and all. The hilt was richly

chased and jewelled, but I had seen swords whose whole value

consisted in that which rose above the scabbard. I drew it forth

instantly and examined it critically. It was indeed a rare and

beautiful blade, such as would have delighted the eye of a practised

swordsman. I balanced the trustworthy weapon easily in my hand. It

fitted my arm as if it had grown to my palm.

"'Tis a rare and beautiful weapon, if I am a judge."

"I think, from the way you handle it, that you are."

I shot it back into its sheath, clasped the belt about my waist, and

instantly felt a thousand times more manly than before. The steel

dangling against my legs seemed to add the finishing touch of

completeness to my disguise. I was now a man indeed.

"Here," said the advocate, extending his hand with a purse, "is the

money."

I sought to thrust it, womanlike, into the bosom of my shirt beneath

the ruffles.

Master Dunner laughed.

"You have a pocket, sir, where such things are kept by men."

Once more I blushed.

"Your reminder is a good one," said I in some confusion, searching in

the breast of my coat until I found the receptacle. "I may appear

manly enough, but I lack practice in the niceties of the masquerade."

"That will come in time, madam," said the old man.

"Ah, yes," was my smiling answer, "but, as you noted before, time is

what we lack. Yet I must e'en do my best with what I have. Where is

the horse, and the mails?"

He pointed toward the door.

"In the alley at the back of the house. The mails are strapped to

the saddle. They contain a change of linen and various other

articles. I saw to their bestowing."

"Men's clothing or women's?"

"Men's, of course. From Lord Carthew's wardrobe. What should a

young gallant like you be doing with women's gear?"

"True," said I. "You are right. May not the horse be brought around

to the front of the house?"

"I think it safer and more secluded in the alley. Suspicion is

easily excited in Edinburgh now, and to see so splendid a cavalier as

yourself issuing from so mean an abode as this might give rise to

curious question. This is our only haven. I would hold it inviolate

for your return until to-morrow night."

"You are right, Master Dunner," said I. "And now I must go. I can

think of nothing more. What's o'clock?"

"'Twas on the stroke of nine as I entered the house."

"If I ride carefully, I should be at Cockenzie before five. That

will give me ample time. If our calculations fail not, I will meet

Sir Hugh there."

I paused.

"And may God aid you and defend the right!" said the old man solemnly.

"Amen," said I. "And now good-bye."

I extended my hand once more. Mine ancient friend bowed over it, but

I prevented him. I stepped toward him. Indeed, I overtowered him

quite on account of his diminutive stature and his lameness, so that

I bent my head and kissed him on the forehead without ceremony or

hesitation.

"Good-bye, true friend," I said.

He was mightily touched by this mark of condescension. His thin face

flushed.

"I would to God," he cried, "that I were young and strong and whole

that I might ride for you or with you. 'Tis I who play the woman's

part."

"Nay," said I, touched in turn by his generous words. "Without you

this could not be. Will you have access to my father?"

"Yes, by the favour of the Lord Chief Justice, who is well affected

toward me. What shall I tell him?"

"Tell him everything. Tell him, on the faith of the last Clanranald,

I will have the warrant, or..."

I paused.

"Or what, your ladyship?"

"Or I will await him on the other side," I answered, looking away.

"God forbid!" earnestly protested the old man, sinking down and

burying his head in his hands by the table.

"Look for me with the warrant to-morrow night," said I, forcing a

smile lest I should break down, with my hand on the door.

"Wait!" he cried. "Don't think of bringing me the warrant. Destroy

it instantly, tear it up when you get your hands upon it, or, better

still, burn it. Here!"

He drew from his pocket a flint and steel in a little case. He was

one of the few who practised the new-fangled habit of smoking the

Virginia weed. I never could see what pleasure he got from it.

"Take these. You can kindle fire with them. Burn the warrant,

should you be fortunate enough to lay hands upon it. Scraps may be

pieced; ashes tell no tales. You understand the use of these things?"

I had often seen him light his pipe.

"Entirely," said I. "You shall see me, then, to-morrow night, with

the statement that the warrant is destroyed."

"I pray so, I pray so!" cried the old man as I passed out of the room.

Now, I had--I suppose I should say it to my shame--often ridden

astride at home. While I ordinarily rode as was the habit of my sex,

sometimes, in wild mountain excursions through the forest glens or on

hunting trips and adventurous journeys in the Highlands with my

father and some faithful servitors, I had perforce and of necessity

been compelled to ride astride. Therefore, it was no novelty for me

to have between my legs a good horse.

Advocate learned in the law though he might be, Master Dunner was a

rare judge of horse-flesh, I thought, or else he had wit enough to

employ unquestioned talent for that purpose, for I never saw a

sweeter, better-bred steed than that led by a horse-boy in the alley.

He was perhaps a trifle undersized for a full-grown man's charger,

but for my weight and build he was admirable: a deep French bay in

exquisite condition. The saddle and mails behind were new, and the

horse was equipped _point device_.

You see from this that I had studied French. Indeed, I was much

better educated than the majority of my sex, to whom all learning

save the simplest was a sealed book. My father had taken interest in

me to teach me things, and I even knew where that quotation from

Master Shakespeare came which my advocate had used, for my Lord and I

had read the plays together and liked them well.

Slipping a coin into the horse-boy's hand, I stepped by the side of

my horse, patted him a few moments, fondled him to make his

acquaintance, wished that I had brought a bit of sugar for him, but

made up for that default by my tender usage of him. Then I sprang

lightly to the saddle and cantered slowly down the alley.

I was entirely familiar with Edinburgh and I easily avoided the main

highways, taking alleys and by-streets, until I came to the gate in

the city wall which gave out to the east, or Dunbar Road. Doubtless

I made a fine sight with my handsome clothes, my easy bearing, my

youthful face and my gallant steed. The soldiers at the gate,

thinking they had to do with a wealthy gentleman, saluted as I

passed, and I took some comfort in acknowledging, with a careless

wave of my gauntleted hand, their respective duties.

By rights I should have been accompanied by a servant on another

horse, but I did not stay long enough to let any question me for that

lack, for so soon as I was clear of the town, and a turn of the road

hid me from possible observation and scrutiny by the soldiers, I put

spurs to my horse. Indeed a word would have been sufficient, but the

spurs were upon my boots and I touched him with one. His bound

nearly unseated me, by the way.

I was minded to distance possible pursuit by putting a long space

between me and the town as soon as possible. There were two roads

before me that led westerly; one crookedly along the shore, and the

other inland a mile or so. The shore road was the more frequented,

the broader and better highway; it was also somewhat longer, since it

followed the windings of the coast, while that inland, through wooded

and farming country and over the hills, was straighter, shorter, and

more direct. It was also much less travelled, and therefore I was

less apt to meet with question and more apt to avoid pursuit, should

any be made. Accordingly, I chose the inland way. The two roads met

at a place called Musselburgh, and from thence the way ran directly

along the shore to the tavern where I confidently expected to meet my

friend.

I was an astonishingly good horseman--how I dropped into the

masculine in talking of myself, I thought!--and I knew that, if I

pushed my horse too hard at the first, he would be spent for the rest

of the day. Therefore, after going perhaps five or six miles at a

rapid pace, I checked him, and thereafter proceeded in a more

reasonable way.

I met no one of any importance, save yokels driving hay-wains and

wagons of produce to the city, travelling pedlars, a little company

of merchants, a stray soldier, to all of whom I gave good-day and

passed on, none offering to molest me. My heart, which had beat high

at the sight of the first-comer with all sorts of vague anticipation

of disaster, at last became quite indifferent to any approaching

traveller, and I flattered myself that I need be under no

apprehension whatever of any one penetrating my disguise or seeking

to harm me.

Nevertheless, I was careful to see that my pistols were loose in the

holsters; that the priming made them fit for instant discharge, and

that my sword-hilt was pulled a little forward ready to hand, should

anybody attempt to stop me. I was determined to show my mettle and

not to yield until the last extremity. There were, of course,

highwaymen abroad, but they rarely molested people in open daylight.

By nightfall, please God, I would be safely sheltered in The Black

Douglas at Cockenzie.

It was noon when I cantered gallantly down the streets of

Musselburgh. I had determined to rest there an hour to bait my

horse, to get my dinner, and to consider further what my plans and

future work should be. I drew up before the door of a

comfortable-looking hostelry. Stable-boys came running; the landlord

himself appeared in the doorway of his inn. I descended, called for

a meal which I demanded should be of roast beef and other

substantiate accompanied by a bottle of wine, thus doing violence to

my natural dainty appetite, which would have preferred a fowl and

cold water. I also engaged a private parlour and was accordingly

served in private. I spent an hour thus very quietly and pleasantly

without disturbance.

Now, I had been brought up very unconventionally in a way that would

have scandalised my female relatives, had I enjoyed any, and which

doubtless did scandalise certain neighbouring dames whose seats

adjoined our own, but, nevertheless, I was a woman and I had never

been absolutely free, independent, and unrestrained before.

I confess to a delightful sensation of excitement at my present

situation. I think I must have had all the daring and adventurous

spirit of the famous Clanranalds, and to be thus mounted on a good

horse with money in my purse, a good sword by my side, a great

adventure before me, filled me with joy. I had all the confidence of

youth and inexperience, and all the hopefulness of woman, that

somehow I should be able to bring about my desire, and that my

romantic action in attempting this wild masquerade would result in

the saving of the life of my noble father.

I thought with considerable complacency that this exploit of mine

would entitle me to something more than a mention of my name in the

family chronicles, and that perhaps I might be counted as worthy the

best traditions of our ancient house. In anticipation, I could feel

my Lord clasp me in his arms when I had saved his life and bless me

for my daring, although I well knew that he would have died rather

than give his consent to such an amazing undertaking.

The good meal, the wine, of which I drank but sparingly, pouring the

rest out of the window when no one was looking, refreshed me greatly.

With a new zeal, therefore, I mounted my horse, flung the landlord a

guinea, at which he bowed himself nearly to the floor, and cantered

down the street through the town and out upon the broad ocean highway.

The sea breeze, with all its splendid freshness, lifted the close

curls of my full wig, fanned my brow, and cooled my cheeks in the

most exhilarating way. I rode rapidly enough, observing my horse

possessed of all the qualities of speed and stamina that his

appearance had indicated, and, without anything untoward or exciting

happening, about five o'clock in the evening I drew up at the Black

Douglas Inn, at Cockenzie.

Cockenzie was merely a huddle of little houses, with nothing on earth

to recommend it except the old inn pleasantly placed on a bluff

headland overlooking the sea. It was the only house of any pretence

whatever in the little fishing village, and before it I drew rein.

Judicious inquiries elicited the fact that at the moment I was the

only guest of the inn. I bespake the best chamber, ordered myself

substantial supper, saw personally to the quartering and care of my

horse, washed my own face and hands, went out of the rear door of the

inn, walked to the edge of the high bluff, and sat down on a rude

bench overlooking the sea, while waiting for my supper, and pondered

carefully on my next step.

I had address enough to find out from the inn-maid who saw me to my

apartment that no such traveller as I suspected Sir Hugh Richmond to

be had passed by within that day or the day before. Therefore, I was

in time. I had no doubt that this very night he would appear on the

scene. Master Dunner's information was such as to carry assurance to

him, and I depended upon its accuracy. Sitting and watching the

ocean, I tried to decide upon my best course when I should at last be

confronted by mine enemy.

_Chapter_

III

_How I ate, drank, and gamed with Sir Hugh Richmond, under whom I

would fain see Service_

For all my cogitations, I had settled upon nothing, and I was not

only surprised but confused when there stepped out on the porch and

made toward me--the clatter of his boots upon the pavement caused me

to turn my head--a cavalier, whom I instantly divined to be the

bearer of our evil tidings. Abstractly, I had a welcome in my heart

for him such as Pharaoh of old entertained for similar messengers,

and I purposed to meet him in much the same way, too; concretely, my

first thought was one of pleased surprise at his appearance.

He was tall, well-knit, well-bronzed, of darker skin and eyes than

mine. His face was handsome in a stern and somewhat martial way.

His bearing was that of a soldier and accorded well with the rich

uniform he wore. I observed that he made directly to me, and,

therefore, I inferred that he had come to seek me. I was annoyed at

myself that I had enjoyed no more time for preparation for the

meeting. I must have been deeply absorbed in my thoughts, I decided,

not to have heard the clatter he made riding up to the door of the

inn on the other side.

I had taken off my hat--heavy, clumsy felt thing that it was!--but,

as the new-comer approached, I clapped it firmly on my head and rose,

resisting with difficulty a wild inclination to wrap my riding-coat

about my legs like the skirt of a dress.

My officer stopped a few paces from me, clapped his heels together,

removed his hat with a sharp military gesture, and bowed quite

gracefully before me.

"Sir," said he in a firm, authoritative voice, due perhaps to his

habit of command, "may I introduce myself? I am Sir Hugh Richmond,

captain in the King's Guards."

"My name is..." replied I, bowing in my turn, "is..."

What was my name? In my hurry it had not occurred to me to fix upon

any. I paused stupidly enough while the gallant captain fixed his

dark eyes upon me in surprised inquiry. I blurted out the first that

came into my mind.

"Henry Carthew," I said.

"I am glad to have the honour of your acquaintance, Mr. Carthew,"

continued the soldier agreeably.

As he spoke, he smiled slightly. His face changed at once, and I

thought, when he smiled, I had never seen a pleasanter-looking man.

It was as if the real man had given a glimpse of himself behind the

cloud with which habit and military discipline had shrouded him. Oh,

but he was good to look on then!

"The pleasure, sir, is mine. I am honoured in the acquaintance of so

distinguished a soldier as Sir Hugh Richmond."

Another look of surprise came to the face of the officer.

"You have heard of me, sir?" he asked, not without a certain pride.

"Your charge at Sedgemoor hath been told of even in Scotland."

"'Twas naught," he said carelessly. "I take it, sir, that you are

not a soldier?"

"Only by inclination," replied I bravely. "I am contemplating

service, however, and indeed, sir, 'twas for that I came hither in

the hope of meeting you."

"Of meeting me?"

"Even so," I answered boldly, feeling that by happy chance I had

stumbled upon an excellent excuse for my presence and interest. "We

have heard in Edinburgh that you were on your way hither with

warrants for the execution of the Earl of Clanranald and other rebels

against His Majesty."

"Faith, sir," was the reply, "my name, my history, and business seem

well enough known in these parts. And how, may I ask, was this news

bruited abroad?"

"Express riders from the south have stated that you were charged with

the delivery of the King's warrants for those high enough for His

Majesty to take personal interest in," I answered promptly.

"'Fore God, sir," exclaimed Sir Hugh, laughing lightly, "with that

rumour running ahead of me, I wonder some one did not endeavour to

despoil me of my warrants in the interest of the condemned!"

"Sir," said I, "we are all loyal men in these parts."

I smiled as I spoke.

"Since Sedgemoor," returned the captain, sharing in my amusement.

"Ay, since Sedgemoor, and I believe there is no man in Scotland would

molest you."

"But the adherents of Clanranald? I mention him since he is of the

greater rank," he asked curiously.

I shrugged my shoulders. 'Twas excellent well done i' faith. I

doubt if Mistress Nell Gwynn herself could have acted better.

Although my heart was beating like to choke me, I gave no outward

sign.

"He hath made his bed," I said, with what affectation of indifference

I could muster, "let him lie upon it."

"'Tis like to be a long sleep then," returned my captain grimly, "for

the warrant spells his death."

"So we have heard," said I.

I had to bite my lip and turn away for the moment, but I put such

iron constraint upon myself as enabled me to awaken no suspicion in

the captain's mind.

"Poor gentleman!" he said, after a little pause. "I never had errand

that I liked less to discharge. But this work does not interest you,

young sir."

Oh, did it not? I never was so interested in all my life.

"Nor did I break upon your solitude to discuss the King's business or

my own. I learned from the landlord that a guest had preceded me,

and that a gentleman had ordered supper who sat in loneliness out

here, whence I made bold to interrupt your reverie and propose that

we should share the table. I have had so little society since

entering Scotland that I pine for a little free intercourse with my

equals. Most gentlemen have avoided me, due perhaps to the rumour of

which you speak."

"You are very welcome to such poor companionship as I can give you,"

said I. "And indeed, as I told you, I had come here to seek you with

view to entering the King's service. I'm a gentleman of some small

fortune. They call me the Laird of Lochnaven."

"Your age, young sir?" said the captain, surveying me thoughtfully.

"My age!" I exclaimed, with a woman's natural reluctance to declare

it. "Is it necessary that I...?"

The captain threw back his head and laughed boisterously.

"You are as timorous about giving it as if you were a girl."

"Twenty!" exclaimed I in my deepest voice and most imperious manner.

"And, sir, I would thank you to modify your allusion to any timidity

you may falsely suspect me of."

I laid my hand on my sword and was glad to feel the touch of the

hilt. It gave me something to still my agitation.

"Thou art a good lad," said the captain genially, clapping me heavily

upon the shoulder, "if but a slight one. I like your pluck, Master

Carthew, and I have no doubt we will turn you into a brave soldier

yet."

"I have, I trust, interest enough to procure me a cornetcy."

"Interest is well enough, but, hark ye, a word in your ear. What you

Scots call siller is about the most interesting appeal any one can

make to King James."

"I will e'en have a supply of that."

"Well, then," returned the captain, "the matter can be easily

arranged, I make no doubt. We shall take further counsel on 't

to-morrow. If agreeable to you, I should like to have you in my own

company of guards. There's a vacancy or two since Sedgemoor, and

I'll own my heart warms to you, lad."

"Nothing would please me better," said I, delighted at the success of

my ruse, "than the prospect of service under so distinguished a

master of the art as yourself."

"You talk like a book, boy," said the captain, not ill-pleased,

however, at the compliment. "I foresee we shall get along vastly

well. I had been pining for the sight of a woman in all these lonely

rides, but you will take the place of one as well as any man on earth

could."

Could he suspect me?

"Sir, sir!" I cried, "do I infer that you think me womanish?"

"What a tinder-box it is!" laughed the captain. "I only meant your

wit and your spirit would go far to render other company unnecessary.

Come," he resumed, "loose your hold upon your sword. I am too old to

fight with you, and in too peaceful a mood for quarrel to-night,

especially about nothing."

"Gentlemen," said the landlord, coming out of the door and

approaching us, "your supper is served. Not hearing to the contrary

and seeing you together, sirs, I have ventured to set it at one

table."

"You have done well," I replied.

"Excellent i' faith," commented my companion genially.

And together we turned toward the house. It was, indeed, a noble

supper that was set before us. My fellow-traveller insisted that, as

I was the first-comer and had done the ordering, to me appertained

the head of the table. He proved a good trencherman likewise, and

made much mock of my small appetite, alleging that all good soldiers

were of necessity good feeders. I did my best to follow his generous

example, but I am afraid I minced more as a woman than ate vigorously

as a man.

It had been dusk outside when Sir Hugh had approached me. The dim

light of the candles in the big parlour in which we supped was not

more favourable to a disclosure of my secret than the twilight

outside. I felt confident that no suspicions had been awakened in

the soldier's mind, although how I could have borne his keen scrutiny

in the full blaze of day was a doubtful question. I did not mean to

bear it, so far as I was concerned, under those conditions if it

could in any wise be helped.

"If I be not indiscreet, Sir Hugh," said I, during a pause in the

meal, "I take it that you are an unmarried man?"

"You take it right, Master Carthew. A soldier loves all ladies; he

marries none."

"A poor lookout for womankind if the best men are in the army," said

I, bridling.

"'Tis the stern necessity of the trade," he returned coolly.

"Wedlock and the sword go not well together. Have you a sweetheart,

young sir?" he asked in his turn.

"I?" I exclaimed indignantly. "Certainly not. No. Yes.... That

is..."

"Keep thy secret, lad. Do you come soldiering with me, you will have

one in every town where you are stationed longer than a fortnight."

"Are soldiers, then, so fickle?"

"They are truth itself," he paused, "to the nearest fair," he added.

He lifted his glass and surveyed it a moment with half-shut eyes.

"I give you a toast. To the nearest fair!"

He drank his. I sipped mine. He noticed my abstemiousness.

"When you love harder, you drink deeper and fight better," he said

sagely.

"Doubtless," said I. "And yet," I ran on, "the romances tell us of

the constant devotion of the knight to his lady. Of how the soldier

adventures far and wide and yet remains true to his one ideal at

home."

"Such hath not been my experience. War and soldiering you will find

are not as they are writ of in books."

"You have questioned me; I have no doubt that you will permit me to

question you," I said in my turn.

"You are not under my command yet," said the captain, smiling at my

presumption. "Ask what you will."

"Then there is no especial lady to whom your thoughts revert?"

"None, or rather there are a dozen," was the prompt reply.

I do not know why I should have felt glad at this, or what particular

interest I had in Sir Hugh Richmond's love affairs, but he had rather

flouted the idea of my sex, and, although I wore the trews for the

time being, I could not forget that I was yet a woman. I should have

liked to teach this red-coated Sassenach a thing or two, and I really

longed for an opportunity to show him that we girls of Scotland were

not to be so lightly dismissed as all that.

"You see, lad, I have campaigned in many countries, and have seen

many women. God bless them all! I have liked an eye here, a cheek

there, a foot and ankle yonder, a fine figure in this place, a merry

laugh in another, spirit in a third, meekness in a fourth, but I have

never seen one, that had all these traits and characteristics

blended, that measured up to my own ideal."

"And what is your ideal, may I ask? You will forgive my curiosity.

I am less a man than I seem." It was verging on the truth with a

vengeance. "I have lived sequestered most of my life, and you cannot

think how it interests me to have the views of so experienced a man

of the world and so veteran a soldier as yourself upon this subject."

He looked sharply at me as I sat at the head of the table toying with

my glass, as if he suspected some hidden meaning in my words, but I

never appeared more innocent and guileless in my life than at that

moment.

"Well," said he, "'tis a strange turn the conversation hath taken,

but I know not why I should not humour you. My ideal maid, then,

will be a woman who is first of all tall, about your own size. She

shall have hair of sunshine colour and eyes of blue, and her cheek

shall be fair to contrast with my own dark visage. In shape she

shall be plump, not slender. Her hands shapely and white, but

strong. I want none of your puling, lackadaisical, sentimental

misses. She shall be a woman of spirit, one with courage enough not

to run a-squeak at the sight of a mouse, one that can handle a sword

or press the trigger of a weapon and discharge it without shutting

her eyes at the report, one who can ride by my side if need be. As

for learning, I want none of your dull and stupid minxes. Let her be

read so that she can talk about something beside fallals, furbelows,

children, and housewifery; one who could meet me on some terms of

equality, who can preside gracefully over my establishment and mother

my many children."

I thanked God that the candle-light did not disclose the furious

colour in my cheek.

"Think you," said I, "that such a woman would be a good mother?"

"She would bring forth a race of soldiers," was the answer, "which is

what I should like best to father."

"And what have you," I asked, forgetting that I was not a man in my

indignation at his unbounded and condescending assurance, "to offer

in exchange for this female paragon you have described?"

"What have I to offer?" He started to his feet violently and leaned

over the table. "This is past endurance, sir," he said in sudden

temper, striking the board hotly with his fist. "What do you mean?"

"Nothing, nothing offensive," I returned quickly, endeavouring to

keep my temper and be calm as his anger rose. "'Tis but a jest. I

meant no offence."

His temper subsided as suddenly as it had arisen.

"As you say," he answered, after a moment's reflection; "'tis idle

talk. You ask what I have to offer? Truth to tell, I never thought

of it in that way."

"But would it not be fair," I asked, "to take stock of the qualities

to be exchanged for those you have demanded?"

"Fair, yes; but a man hardly likes to appraise himself; in fact, I

doubt that he can do it truthfully. Yet I'll try. I am thirty-two,

heart-whole and fancy-free, the possessor of a rentroll of five or

six thousand a year, hold a commission in the King's Guards, am sound

in wind and limb, good in temper, possess some small learning which I

got at Oxford, and--faith, that's all."

I laughed. I could not help it.

"That's the assurance of mankind," I said at last. "Do you give me

leave to speak frankly about you?"

"I invite you to do so," returned the captain complacently.

"Here you are, just an ordinary, commonplace soldier approaching

middle life, of good birth and reasonable fortune, declaring that

nothing can suit you but the never-to-be-realised ideal you have

described."

"You are, indeed, frank," returned Sir Hugh resentfully.

"I am," I answered, "and I will be more so. If you wish, I will give

you my own ideal of womankind."

"I should like to hear what your vast experience has evolved,"

returned the other, somewhat sarcastically.

"She shall be small, tender, meek, adoring, dark of hair and eye,

dainty and nice of taste and appearance. She shall hang upon my

words, attempt no equality with me, come to my hand, and..."

"You want a dog, not a woman," said the captain, laughing. "When you

have seen more, your views will differ."

"It may be."

"And what, pray, is your ideal man?" he asked lightly.

"He shall be tall and strong and brave and true, with bright hair and

blue eyes, a soldier by profession, and fierce to all the world but

reserving his tender side for me.... I mean for the woman that he

loves," I added hastily to cover my slip. "He shall worship her and

think her as far above him as the stars."

"You ought to marry your ideal man to your ideal woman," interposed

the captain jocosely, "and see what the result would be. 'Fore God,

sir, I'd like to observe such a union. Meanwhile, give me leave as

an older man. We have talked enough sentiment for a boxful of French

romances. It hath made me thirsty. Another bottle of wine, pray."

He rapped on the table as he spoke, and bade it brought. "And then,

when the remains of our supper shall be cleared away, I propose that

we pass an hour in play before we retire for the night. I at least

must make an early start to-morrow."

"I am agreeable," said I. "We have exchanged views upon our ladies

and their cavaliers, and I am willing to back my luck against your

own."

"With what shall we play?"

"With dice," I answered. "At any game of skill with such a veteran

as you I would be at too great a disadvantage."

"True," said the captain, looking me over carefully. "Thou art a

queer lad, but I like thee."

"The regard is mutual," said I. "What shall the stakes be?"

"Let us play for shillings," he said after a thoughtful moment.

His intent was so obvious that I could not bear the imputation.

"Nay, for guineas!" I cried.

"Done," said the captain. "Here's rare sporting blood, I see."

When we parted for the night an hour later, Captain Richmond was near

a hundred pounds richer than when he sat down. It was purely a game

of chance, this throwing of the dice, and yet, I know not how it was,

luck was steadily against me. I had sense enough to reserve a few

guineas for my roadway needs, but with the rest I had played

desperately till all were gone.

It was the first time that I had ever tempted fortune with the ivory.

My father had never allowed me so to do. The fascination of it was

great, but hardly enough to compensate for the repentance I felt for

even this modest depletion of the totally inadequate store that

Master Dunner would be able to gather for our great purpose.

Too late. I was horror-struck at my folly and my imprudence.

Something of my feelings must have appeared in my face, for, on a

sudden, Captain Richmond pushed the heap of guineas across the table

toward me.

"There, lad," he said most courteously, "I did but jest with you.

Take thy guineas back. We have had a pleasant evening together, and

I shall be happier if your gold is in your own purse rather than in

mine."

But this I could not brook.

"Sir," said I, "I may appear a poor loser, but 'tis in appearance

only. You have fairly won the stakes and they are yours. Nay," I

cried as I saw him about to speak again, "to protest further would be

to insult me!"

"As you will," said the captain coolly, "and, if I may say so, I

congratulate you upon being a good loser. You shall have your

revenge another time, with Fortune, I trust, in a more complacent

mood. Which way do you ride to-morrow?"

"To Edinburgh," I answered.

"Do you make an early start?"

"At daybreak," I replied.

"We shall ride together then and discourse further."

"Upon our ladies?" I asked impudently to cover my dismay.

"Nay, upon your commission in my company," he answered.

"With all my heart," said I.

"Here's to our further acquaintance," he continued, pouring himself

another glass of wine. "And so, good-night."

_Chapter_

IV

_Wherein I played the Highwayman and what

befell me on the Road_

I retired to my chamber in a great state of perturbation. I had made

the captain's acquaintance; I had some idea of his temperament and

quality; I had gained, to a certain degree his confidence and won, in

some measure, his regard, it appeared. There was no doubt about his

liking for me. Yet I was no nearer the accomplishment of my purpose

than before, and the sight of the captain had not reassured me as to

its entire practicability. He could jest and discourse idly with me,

and play and eat and drink like any other man and soldier, but I

instinctively realised that in an emergency it would be a bold, a

ready, and a resourceful person who could get the better of such as

he.

In the parlour of the inn he was one man; on the road to-morrow he

would be another. I could match him at repartee easily enough, but

when it came to a quick eye, a steady hand, a daring heart, I would

be sadly lacking. There was no comparison between us on the score of

efficiency. In so much as I fancied that I surpassed other women in

physical ability, so I was sure that in the same degree he surpassed

other men. Only the desperation lent to me by my father's grave

peril would tend to equalise conditions between us.

I said that he liked me. I liked him. He differed from the

gentlemen with whom I had been acquainted. He was more a man of the

world than any. His coolness, his personal distinction, even his

age, attracted me. I wished that he had been on my side. I could

have trusted him with the wild undertaking I was now endeavouring to

bring about, and I could have rested quite confident that he would

succeed in it.

Yes, marvellous as it may seem, I could have viewed his claiming the

inevitable reward with a certain degree of equanimity, if equanimity

be the word to describe a wildly fluttering, beating heart such as my

own. He inspired my confidence and something more.

My mind swiftly reverted to his ideal woman. I was not vain and

foolish, I trust, and yet was I not tall and fair? Was there not

sunshine, or had there not been sunshine in my long locks before I

cut them off? Were my eyes not the blue of which he spoke? Was not

my figure plump? I examined what was visible of it with another

burning blush, wondering if he had marked it. Could I not ride and

hold a sword and fire a weapon without shutting my eyes? Did I not

have learning enough to match me with this...

Pshaw, the man was nothing, could be nothing, to me except my enemy.

And all such speculations were indeed idle. If I had time and could

appear before him in my proper person, I might win his devotion did I

desire it, I made no doubt.

But I had no time. I had to get from him to-morrow, in some way, by

some means, the fatal warrant. How? His chamber was across the hall

from mine. Could I effect entrance therein in the middle of the

night, and, unobserved, steal the despatch-case in which, doubtless,

he would carry it? It might be done, but suppose he awoke and seized

me there and found me a woman?

I shivered at the thought. What would he think of me in such a case?

On the other hand, what did I care what he thought of me so long as I

got the warrant?

But if I were caught, would I not have to pay the price, lose all,

and get nothing? It could not be.

Was there any way in which I could win it from him by finesse? None.

By cajolery? Men do not cajole men. And if I said, or he

discovered, that I was a woman, I would be helpless.

There was but one way: I should have to take it from him by force.

I, a woman, to all intents a slender stripling, would have to

overmaster this veteran soldier! Well, I swore that I would do it.

I would stop him in the highway, be the risk what it might.

A long time I made plans, only to dismiss one after another until, at

last, I hit upon something that seemed to give at least faint promise

of success. I would stake all upon that. I could do nothing else.

Slipping off my boots and coat and loosening my clothes slightly, I

threw myself down upon the bed, having left directions that I should

be called by four of the clock, and fell into a troubled sleep, full

of anxious dreams born of my strange plight.

I was up betimes, hastily dressed myself, and descended to the

taproom. It was still dark. I knew that Sir Hugh would not be

called until daybreak, that he would order breakfast ere he started,

and that I should have probably an hour for my purposes. Bidding the

sleepy maid to get me some kind of a meal, I went out to the stables

to look to my horse.

There were only two strange horses in the stalls, mine and this

soldier's. Our saddles hung side by side on pegs. Awakening the

ill-tempered hostler, I despatched him to the taproom to bring my

saddle-bags and to draw a bucket of water for my horse. The instant

he left the stable, I ran to Sir Hugh's saddle and drew the pistols

from the holsters. They were a pair of heavy, serviceable,

soldier-like weapons. I had a fit of trembling at the idea that they

might be pointed at me.

To unscrew the ramrods and draw the charges was the work of a few

moments. I was in a desperate hurry and, fortunately, got the

pistols, still primed, back in the holsters before the stable-boy

came in. I tossed him a crown to relieve his spleen, and bade him

get my horse ready quietly and bring him to the door of the inn

within ten minutes.

Then I went back, hastily partook of such breakfast as was set before

me and paid my reckoning to the landlord, who had by this time come

sleepily down the stairs. I left a message for Sir Hugh Richmond

that, being nervous and having passed a sleepless night, I had risen

early, breakfasted and had ridden on ahead, and would progress slowly

that he might overtake me on the road at his convenience. Then I

clambered to the saddle and rode away in a rare state of perturbation

indeed.

Coming to Cockenzie the day before, I had marked a place where the

road bent sharply away from the shore, on account of the broken

nature of the cliffs, and plunged for the space of a mile through a

stretch of woodland. Such a place, if fortune gave me the least

favour, would be most advantageous for my purposes. There I had

determined to play the part of highwayman.

When I reached the spot, I drew away from the road beneath the trees

and made a careful survey of the situation. I found that I could sit

my horse under the shelter of the trees, myself unseen, although with

a clear glimpse of the open road leading to the forest, and could

easily burst out upon a traveller coming around the bend without

giving him the least previous warning.

It was still early in the morning--in fact, it was not yet full

dawn--when I reached this point, some miles from the inn, and I hoped

that no other traveller on the road would inconveniently appear to

balk me in my desire. Fortunately no one was abroad then. The place

and road were lonely and deserted.

I had plenty of time to make all my preparations. I carefully

examined my pistols and saw that my sword was ready at hand. If Sir

Hugh had examined his own weapons critically and had recharged them,

if I did not kill him first I should probably be shot dead.

The alternatives before me were simple, I reflected with a faint

heart. Before an hour, I should possibly be murdered or be a

murderess myself. I liked neither the one possibility nor the other.

If Sir Hugh had not recharged his pistols, it was likely that I could

get his despatch-bag, but probably only after I had shot him, for I

realised that a man such as he would never give up a charge upon a

mere demand or threat such as I had at first hoped might suffice.

Well, I knew all this before. There was no use repining at it now.

I played for a great stake--my father's life. That stood higher with

me than the life of any other man or woman, including my own. I

would carry out the enterprise with determination to the end as I had

planned, whatever the consequences to myself. But I would that the

necessity had never been laid upon me, a helpless maiden.

It is simple enough and easy enough to say all this, but it was by no

means easy or pleasant to think on at the time, and I own that no

hour I ever spent dragged as that one. Indeed, if the undertaking

had been put off another hour, I believe I could scarce have mustered

courage enough to carry the affair through even for my dear Lord's

life.

It seemed such a pity that no other way presented itself. Certainly,

I did not want to shoot this unsuspecting officer. I had almost

rather he shot me. Instantly my imagination ran away with me, and I

pictured him lying lifeless and bloody at my feet, or myself in like

case. And in these speculations I own I quite lost sight of the

heads-man's axe and the block awaiting my father in Edinburgh with

only me to stay them.

I was becoming quite unmanned when I caught the sound of a horse's

footfalls on the road. I rose to my feet from the grassy bank where

I had been resting, ran back under the trees, mounted my own horse,

rode to the bend of the road, and stationed myself out of sight

behind a thick growth of underbrush. I peered cautiously down the

road before I took this position and discovered that the oncoming

horseman was the red-coated Sir Hugh.

The sun had just risen, and the open road was full of light, although

the place where I stood was still in quite deep shadow. My

nervousness, I am thankful to say, largely left me in the moment of

emergency, and I observed with satisfaction that the hand which held

the pistol resting lightly across the pommel of the saddle was quite

steady.

Sir Hugh was pushing his horse at a smart pace. Fortunately for me,

however, he reined in just as he approached the wood and scanned it

curiously, like the careful soldier that he was. There was nothing

suspicious, however, and he rode on rather carelessly. As he came

around the bend, I was instantly disclosed. I endeavoured to sit and

to look as negligently as was possible. I don't think anything in my

appearance awakened his suspicion, for he checked his horse, and

turned slowly toward me with an air in which were mingled surprise

and satisfaction.

"Good-morrow, Master Carthew!" he cried, with a wave of his hand and

quite buoyantly. "I thought I had lost you. What strange freak made

you get up and ride ahead?"

The moment had arrived. It was now or never. If I waited, I could

not do it. He looked so handsome in the full light. He bore himself

so bravely and seemed so glad to chance upon me again. Quick as a

flash, I lifted my right arm and pointed the pistol fair at his

heart, although I prayed that I might not have to press the trigger.

"Stop where you are!" I cried peremptorily. "If you move a hand,

I'll put a bullet through your heart, sir."

I never saw such blank astonishment in any human face. At other

times I might have laughed at it.

"Why, good God!" he exclaimed when he could master his amazement a

little.

"Silence!" I cried. And my voice, I am sorry to say, lost the deep

pitch to which I had striven to subdue it and rang highly feminine.

"I mean what I say," I continued. "If you do not obey my commands, I

shall be under the painful necessity of killing you."

Instinctively confronted by such a weapon,--and my hand, I thrilled

to see, did not even yet tremble, though my heart beat so it was like

to choke me,--he had remained absolutely motionless.

"Is this a jest, young sir?" he at last inquired, frowning.

"No jest as you will see, but I have no time for talk. I want..."

"Your hundred guineas, I suppose," he sneered. "Why, I offered you

them last night. You could have taken them like a gentleman instead

of filching them like a thief."

"I want no guineas!" I protested.

But he was too quick for me. With a movement of lightning-like

rapidity, the which I had not imagined him or any man capable of, he

bent forward, whipped a pistol out of his holster, pointed it at me,

and pulled the trigger. For one brief second my eyes did close.

There was a flash in the pan--thank God, nothing more. I had not, in

spite of my fright, lowered my weapon.

"Curses on the pistol!" he cried.

I laughed.

"If you do not instantly drop it in the road, I will pull the

trigger."

I think he realised now that I was in earnest, for he unclosed his

fingers and the pistol fell to the ground.

"Now," said I, "you need not look at the other weapon, for I myself

drew the charges this morning."

I was sure of my man now and I could afford to temporise.

"You can examine it yourself," I continued confidently, "to make sure

that further resistance on your part is futile. Only I warn you

that, if you turn it never so little toward me, I will let you have

this pistol, and I assure you it is thoroughly charged."

With this permission he at once drew the other pistol from the

holster, examined it, and, by command, dropped it in the road beside

its useless fellow.

"You have me at a disadvantage, Master Carthew. I am soldier enough

to know when I am beaten. What do you wish of me?" he asked me

quietly enough; too quietly, had I but known it.

"Your despatches," I said.

"My despatches?"

"You can understand the English language," I continued, "even when

spoken by a Scot. Hand them over, or I swear to you..."

"This is foolish preparation for a commission in the King's service,

boy."

"I desire no service with that false King," I answered recklessly.

"Are you for Monmouth, then?"

"I am."

"Why, Lord love ye, boy, the Duke hath been executed long since on

Tower Hill, and..."

"I'm for myself, then!" I cried. "We waste words. Your despatches!"

"I have liked you," said the man gently, looking at me quite

pleasantly, with a little smile upon his lips. "There is the making

in you of a rare soldier, for all your slender, almost feminine

appearance."

At that my pistol did waver for a second,--it was terribly heavy, I

found, extended out before me,--but only for a second.

"Be advised. This is high treason. You will die for it surely."

"On my own head be the consequences. I appreciate the kindness of

your warning. Once and for all, will you give over the packet."

"Needs must with such a persuader," he said, smiling.

He reached his left hand into his breast pocket and drew forth a

heavy leather wallet. He extended his hand toward me. I was new at

the business; I should have had him drop it in the road and ride on,

but such was my eagerness for it that I spoke to my horse and

advanced a pace to meet him.

I nearly had cause to rue forever that miscalculation, for while

still extending the packet with one hand, with the other he reached

down with astonishing quickness, drew my other pistol from the

holster, and pulled the trigger. Our horses were both in motion at

the time. My only salvation was to fire upon him, and, even as the

weapon which he had seized spoke, so did mine. I felt a sharp,

agonising pain in my left shoulder. I knew that I had been hit; how

seriously I could not tell, nor could I give much thought to my

condition, for my interest was in him.

Fortune had favoured me, for as I stared, my left arm dangling, Sir

Hugh threw up his hands, his face went white; I could see a red

smudge on his forehead. He reeled in his saddle, fell back, slipped

sideways, and slid down to the road. Both horses were in a great

state of excitement. Sir Hugh's foot was still in the stirrup. I

had managed to control mine by a word; his own horse started off.

Sir Hugh would have been dragged and battered to pieces in a few

bounds. I barred the way and, with my right hand, I caught his

horse's bridle and brought the well-trained animal instantly to a

stop. I found that, although my coat-sleeve was stained with blood,

I could still move my arm, which rather convinced me that my wound

was a flesh wound of the shoulder and nor serious.

Therefore I dismounted, stepped over to Sir Hugh, disengaged his foot

from the stirrup, and tore the packet from his hand. His forehead

and the side of his face were covered with blood. He was still

breathing. Recklessly, I tore off a ruffle from my sleeve and strove

to stanch the blood. I expected to see a round hole in the skull.

There was nothing there, however, but a deep gash that extended

sideways along the temple. I was not skilled in gunshot wounds, but

I realised instantly that he was not mortally hurt, and I was never

more fervently thankful in all my life than for that.

As soon as I saw what had happened, I took my lace and linen tie and

rapidly bandaged the soldier's head. Then, as I knew I must get away

for my life, I mounted my horse again, and, having first taken the

precaution to detach from its straps a little despatch-bag that hung

from the pommel of the saddle, I turned his horse's head back toward

the inn and gave it a hearty stroke or two with my hand to set it

galloping away. Thereupon, with a final and reluctant glance at the

poor prostrate soldier, I put spurs to my own horse and galloped

madly down the road, feverishly anxious to get away.

---------------------------------------------------------------------

[Illustration: As soon as I saw what...]

_As soon as I saw what

had happened, I took my

lace and linen tie and rapidly

bandaged the soldier's head.

Then I knew I

must get away

for my life_

---------------------------------------------------------------------

When I had got out of sight of any possible observation from Sir

Hugh, even if he had recovered sufficiently to observe me, I turned

my horse into the wood by the side of a little brook that crossed the

road. I urged him through the trees until he was completely out of

sight of any passerby. Then I swung myself from the saddle, tore

open the package that Sir Hugh had handed me, hastily glanced over

the papers, and discovered that the precious warrant was not among

them!

Sick at heart, I hammered at the lock of the despatch-bag, which I

thanked God I had had the wit to bring with me, until I got it open.

It contained various official documents, and among them was one I

recognised, to my great relief and happiness. Ruthlessly, I broke

the royal seal. The name of my father swam before my eyes. It was

the warrant for his execution.

With hands that trembled now as they had not trembled before during

the adventure, I dragged from my pocket the flint and steel. Heaping

together some leaves, touchwood, and dried brush, I soon kindled a

blaze. I held the warrant therein with my hand and watched it burn.

The wax melted at last and left a red spot in the middle of the

ashes. I had succeeded, and by my own wit and address. My father's

life was saved.

I had kept myself up till then by sheer strength of will. The wound

in my shoulder had bled unheeded. I was greatly weakened. A sudden

reaction came. I felt frightfully faint and ill.

I rose to my feet and managed in some way to divest myself of my coat

and waistcoat, fumbling with my one hand amid the unfamiliar buttons.

Then I tore open the breast of my shirt, dragged it off my shoulder,

and discovered a long, jagged wound across the top. The sight of the

red blood upon my white flesh made me nervous and sick.

I fell to my knees and started to crawl toward the brook. I did not

know whether I should reach it or not. The world was growing darker

and blacker about me every minute. I set my teeth together and

crawled mechanically on. I had almost arrived at the brink when a

voice I knew broke upon my ear, recalling me at once to full

consciousness.

"Well, Master Carthew,"--the words came to me as if from a great

distance,--"I have you now."

I looked up. There stood Sir Hugh, hatless, his head still bound,

his cheek still bloody. He had a drawn sword in his hand. Amazing

as it may seem, I was almost glad to see him: I felt so sick, and

weak, and helpless. Yet I did not give up. With a flash of my old

spirit, I strove desperately to rise to my feet. I got as far as my

knees and, forgetful of my naked shoulder, I stared up at him boldly.

"Too late," I said.

"Good God!" I heard him exclaim. "'Tis a woman."

And then I knew nothing more.

_Chapter_

V

_In which I ride away with my Captor, who

threatens me with Death for High Treason_

When I came to my senses, I found myself lying in the arms of the

soldier: that is, he was kneeling by me, with my head pillowed on his

arm. It was a comfortable position, but I could not retain it a

moment longer than was necessary. My wig had been pulled off; my

face was wet with water from the brook, which he had dashed in it

energetically; my throat was burning from some kind of liquor which

he had poured down it.

After the first emotion of comfort from being thus supported, my

immediate feeling was one of fierce indignation that he had so

mishandled me. I opened my eyes and my mouth at the same time,

furiously determined to protest. One does not come out of such a

swoon, however, in full possession of one's powers, and in that

particular Sir Hugh had the advantage of me, for, so soon as I

unclosed my eyes and before I had a chance to say a word, he spoke.

"My dear young lady," he began, with an air of masculine superiority

which made me detest him.

That he should speak so to me was not to be borne. My weakness and

faintness had passed. I resolutely drew myself away from him, and

sat up. I maintained my position, too, although my head swam and

things looked hazy and vague for a few moments.

"I am glad," said he with a gleam of triumph in his eye, "to see that

you are better. Another swallow from this flask will probably put

you to rights again."

He proffered me as he spoke a little silver-mounted bottle, which

looked as if it might have been made to carry in the pocket. I shook

my head positively.

"I want no more of it," I said. "I shall do very well as I am."

Then my eye fell upon my half-naked shoulder. With a convulsive

movement, I swept my shirt across my breast, and held it there, and I

know that my face was scarcely less crimson than the wound itself.

Sir Hugh Richmond, of course, saw my gesture. He paused, bit his

lips to repress a smile, and then began resolutely.

"Madam," he said, as cold as you please, "I know not who you are, or

why you have indulged yourself in this mad prank. You seem to be a

gentlewoman...."

Seem! Great Heavens!--and yet I was thankful for the acknowledgment

after all, for goodness knows, there was nothing in my conduct which

would indicate that I belonged to that degree.

"And, therefore, I beg to assure you that, until matters are

explained to me and arranged between us, I regard you simply as a

woman in distress, entitled to my respectful duty and protection."

"You are very kind," I said, seeing that he paused once again.

"It is difficult to say this," he resumed, with some little

embarrassment, "but you have a raw and open flesh-wound in your

shoulder. It is necessary that it be bound up. In the nature of

things you cannot do it yourself. There is no succour or help within

miles. You must allow me to act as your surgeon."

"Never!" said I.

"But the bleeding must be stopped," he continued imperatively. "You

must be got away from here."

"I don't care, even if I bleed to death," I protested vehemently but

most miserably.

"Madam, you must," was the stern answer. "In the first place,

although I am loath to allude to it in your present condition, really

you are now a prisoner in my custody. You have halted the King's

messenger, robbed the King's post on the King's Highway. The act is

felony; nay, more, 'tis treason. The punishment I pointed out to you

a few moments since. I must convey you hence, and I cannot march you

away with that open wound."

"Let me die here then!" I wailed, not realising that death was not

imminent from that cause at any rate.

"'Tis impossible," he said briefly, but with a firmness I could not

stay. "And, in short, we have wasted too many words already."

He stepped toward me and bent over me. In my desperation I struck

feebly at him with my unwounded arm.

"Madam," he said gently, catching me by the arm, "surely you see how

futile is your resistance to me."

"But you are wounded yourself."

"A mere scratch," he replied. "Now, permit me."

There was no help for it. I sank back on the grass and hid my face

with my right hand. Never in all my life had I been so humiliated

and ashamed. The tears welled through my fingers. I hated myself

for weeping, but I had no power to check their flow.

He whipped out a knife from some place, and, with skilful hands, slit

the shirt across my shoulder, laying it bare. For all my blinding my

eyes, I was acutely conscious of everything he did, and a little

thrill of admiration at his delicacy pervaded me. A ruder man might

have opened the shirt, but he took every care to conserve, so far as

was possible, my outraged feelings by exposing me as little as

possible.

"Have you anything," he said at last, after he laid bare the wound

and washed it with water, which he brought from the brook in his

hands; "have you any bit of linen on your person with which to bind

it up?"

"Naught," said I.

"If you only had a linen petticoat," he blurted out.

"Ay," was my answer. "If I had that I should not now be here

wounded, helpless, and at your mercy."

He looked me over critically from head to foot. I could see betwixt

my fingers. His glance, which was careless and indifferent enough,

made my flesh fairly creep. Then he did a strange thing. He tore

off his coat, and applied the knife to the sleeve of his own shirt.

He cut it clear close to the shoulder, slit it in lengths, used the

ruffles as a cloth to cleanse the wound, the edges of which he drew

together, applied some plaster which he procured from a little box in

his waistcoat, and then, with amazing skill and deftness, used the

strips of his sleeve to bandage it all firmly and well. It is

impossible to describe the relief afforded me by the process. When

it was completed, I drew down my hand from my face and looked

gratefully at him.

"Now, madam," said he, "'tis but a rough soldier's dressing, but the

bleeding is checked, and 'twill serve until we can have it properly

bandaged and attended to by a more skilful chirurgeon or apothecary."

There were a few small pieces of his sleeve lying by my side. I sat

up and used them to wipe my tear-stained face and heavy eyes. Sir

Hugh surveyed me thoughtfully yet most kindly while I did so.

"I believe," said he, "that, with my assistance, we can manage to get

your waistcoat and coat on you. The wound is fortunately high up on

the shoulder, and you can bend your arm with but little pain. I take

it that you do not wish to be recognised as a woman, at least by

chance wayfarers, and it will be necessary for you to make this

effort."

"With your assistance, I am sure I can manage it," I said, rising to

my feet.

He extended me a friendly hand during the endeavour, and I was very

glad to take it. I was shaky still in my knees, but I had no doubt I

could manage all that was necessary. It was an operation of some

difficulty to get the coat and waistcoat on without hurting me too

greatly, and indeed, although the pain was severe, I set my teeth

together and it was presently managed. Next he mixed me a draught of

spirit, well diluted with cool water, in the little cup around the

bottom of the flask. After I had partaken of this, I felt ready for

whatever fortune had in store for me.

"You will be quite yourself in a few moments, I think. Meanwhile, I

will allow you to rest at your ease while I inquire into this strange

proceeding."

He indicated a fallen tree. I threw myself down on the grass and

rested my head and unwounded arm upon it. Sir Hugh stood with folded

arms by my side, quite in the attitude of a judge.

"Now," said he with ceremonious politeness, "that you are quite

comfortable, will you kindly relieve my natural curiosity as to your

extraordinary procedure?"

I hesitated as to how to begin the answer to this entirely natural

request. Sir Hugh prompted me.

"First," he said, "it would be well for you to tell me your name and

condition."

I could see no reason for concealing it. He had but to produce me in

Edinburgh as his prisoner and a thousand people would tell him who I

was.

"My name," said I, "is Katharine Clanranald."

The soldier started.

"What!" he exclaimed. "Are you the daughter of the Earl of

Clanranald?"

"His only daughter," I returned.

"Lady Katharine Clanranald?"

"The same, sir."

"Is he your father whose warrant I was fetching from the King?"

"You speak truly, sir."

"The warrant; where is it?"

This was my one moment of triumph in all the interview now

proceeding. I pointed to the remains of the fire off to one side.

"You will find what remains of the seal in that heap of ashes

yonder," I said, smiling triumphantly.

Sir Hugh deliberately stepped over to it, carefully examined the heap

of ashes, stirred it up with his foot, lifted the shapeless mass of

wax in his hand.

"Your despatch-bag and the wallet you were good enough to hand me lie

yonder," I said, "their contents otherwise intact."

He turned to them, picked them up, examined them carefully, thrust

the wallet into the breast pocket of his coat, and turned to me,

holding the despatch-bag in his hand.

"I see," said he, "that you have burned your father's warrant. Why

did you do this, may I ask?"

"You were an enemy..." I began.

"Certainly not your enemy, madam," he interrupted quickly. "I simply

serve my King and obey his orders. I have no personal feeling

against you or against the Earl. That should be obvious."

"'Tis a matter of indifference, your feeling toward me or mine," I

replied coolly, at which he flushed darkly.

"May I ask what you expect to gain beyond delay by this most

extraordinary action, which is fraught with consequences to yourself

infinitely more serious than you can imagine?"

"I know to the full, sir, what are the consequences to myself, and,

knowing them, I took the risk to save my father's life."

"But you cannot save his life by this means. It will be not

difficult to procure another warrant, and your action has removed the

last vestige of possibility of royal clemency. You have gained

nothing but a brief delay for your father, while for yourself..."

"And that, sir," I returned, "is all that I desire. New evidence

hath been disclosed which will be laid before the King, with

application for pardon signed by most of the great and loyal

gentlemen of Scotland. I played for time. They cannot execute my

father without the warrant, and, while one is being sent there, I

shall be on my way south to London, to plead with His Majesty the

Earl's cause."

"Humph!" said Sir Hugh, "you have forgotten one thing."

"And what is that, pray?"

"That you are now a prisoner attainted of treason; that to-night I

turn you over to the commandant at Edinburgh, and your place will be

a cell beside your father's. Two heads, one of them a fair one, may

go to the block instead of one."

He spoke slowly and with cool deliberation, which lent tremendous

emphasis to every word he said. I stared at him, bewildered, the

truth of what he said coming over me like a wave. Was it indeed

possible that I had risked everything and to no avail?

"Sir, sir," I began, and then I hid my face in my hands once more.

The pause was broken by the soldier.

"I never could abide to see a woman weep. The thought that many a

hard adventure and many a bold attempt ends in a woman's tears has

oft taken the joy out of some gallant undertaking," he said

uncomfortably. "I pray your ladyship control your grief."

"Control my grief!" I flashed out. "Put yourself in my place. I

have staked everything, full of hope that I might thus insure my

father's life, and you tell me that I have but made his death more

certain."

"And have only involved yourself in his evil fortune."

"For that I care not."

"And there is no one for whom you care enough to regret this life?"

"None, save Master Dunner."

"Ah!" exclaimed Sir Hugh, "and who is Master Dunner, pray?"

"An aged retainer of our house, the attorney and councillor who hath

aided me in this juncture."

"Was this wild plan his?"

"My own," I answered.

"And had you no man of your house to whom to turn?"

"We are alone, my father and I."

"And was there no gallant among your acquaintance who could relieve

you of this desperate endeavour?"

"Not without a price greater than I could pay."

"And that price?"

I do not know why I answered these questions, but he stood before me

so dominant and so masterful; I felt so miserable and weak and

helpless; the enterprise which I had carried through so gallantly,

and from which I had hoped so much, was apparently fruitless. I was

as a child before him for the time being.

"The price, I ask," he repeated.

"Myself."

A slow smile swept across Sir Hugh's face.

"Have you never found that tall, strong, brave, true man, with bright

hair and blue eyes; that brave, fierce soldier to all the world who

reserves his tender side for you, who will worship you and think you

as far above him as the stars, Master Carthew?"

"Not yet," I answered, bitterly ashamed of myself as he quoted my

foolish remarks of the night before.

I looked pointedly at him as I spoke.

"My own hair is brown, my eyes and skin are dark." He shook his head

sadly and then, with a swift change of manner, he continued, "But, do

you know, I think I have found the woman of whom I dreamed, and of

whom I told you over the cups last night."

There was a direct, not to say a burning, intensity about his gaze,

as he fixed it on me, that fairly shocked me.

"I pray you, sir, do not mock me," I began in my confusion.

In spite of my words, there was something that thrilled my heart not

only in what he said, but in the way he said it.

"I was never farther from mockery in my life," said Sir Hugh gravely.

"These," said I, "are the manners of the army, doubtless, which finds

a sweetheart in every post."

"How admirable is your memory," returned the soldier.

"And 'tis most ungenerous to entreat me thus, being a woman, wounded,

helpless, beaten, and your prisoner."

"It is so," said Sir Hugh contritely. "Madam, you have rebuked me

well. Now, what is to be done?"

It was obviously not for me to answer that question, so I remained

discreetly silent while Sir Hugh pondered the situation, thinking

deeply on his course.

"Do you know how far it is to the next town, Musselburgh I believe

they call it?" he asked me at last.

I was tempted not to answer him. I would fain give no advice or

counsel. I was not bound to give aid and comfort to the enemy. But

lingering remains of discretion prompted me to placate my fierce

conqueror by submissiveness, if possible.

"It is perhaps five or six miles by the road, I think."

"I could walk that distance easily. But you ... We must get there

some way. Once there, it will be easy to secure a conveyance to

enable us to reach Edinburgh in safety. I see naught for it but to

go to the highroad and wait the chance of a passing coach or wagon,

which we will impress."

"My horse should be yonder," I said.

"I frightened him away when I came up."

"Your own horse?"

"You drove him off evidently, for when I came to my senses he was

gone."

"We will go, then, to the roadway. How did you find me here, sir?" I

asked, rising slowly to my feet.

"You left a trail that a baby could have followed." He smiled.

"And, before we start, there is another matter that must be adjusted

between us." He hauled out of his pocket as he spoke a netted purse

containing the money he had won from me the night before. "This," he

said, "is yours. I don't play at dice with women."

He extended his hand with the purse in it, and bowed low before me.

I took the money--oh, I did not intend to keep it! I was never so

angered and humiliated in all my life.

"Surely, sir," said I, "I have some claims to be considered as having

played the manly part in that, in broad daylight on the King's

Highway, I have despoiled a royal messenger, a tried and proved

soldier, of his charge, and, in an encounter at arms, have left him

senseless in the roadway while I made off scot-free."

"You have described the situation and your action excellent well,

madam, but this exhibition of manly courage, address, and daring does

not make you less a woman. I may fight with you on necessity, but I

cannot game with you. The gold is yours and you will have need of

it," remonstrated the soldier.

For answer, I hastily flung the purse and its contents into the brook.

"Let it lie there," I said.

Sir Hugh laughed uproariously. Then he deliberately waded into the

brook, fished up the purse from the shallow pool in which it lay, and

put it in his pocket.

"Your true woman," he said, "flings away treasure; your true soldier

gathers it up, that, at some future day, he may place it in her hand

again."

"Lead on to the roadway," said I, as imperiously as you please.

"Had best cover your curls with the sunshine in them, madam, with

your wig before we go," said Sir Hugh, lifting up wig and hat and

presenting them to me with a graceful but most ironical bow.

I clapped them on my head in some fashion. I was so angry that I

neither knew nor cared whether they were rightly placed or not; and

then, meekly to all appearances but with a heart filled with inward

rage, I plodded through the forest to the side of the road.

_Chapter_

VI

_In which, by the Favour of the King's Messenger, I am permitted to

ride south again on my Quest_

Fortune favoured us, for what should come along but an empty coach

and four that had taken one of the minor gentry out to his country

seat and was returning to the city. The coachman was sufficiently

astonished at the sight of a King's officer, his head bound up in a

bloody rag, and a pale slip of a boy in disordered guise by his side.

He halted instantly on being hailed, and when Sir Hugh disclosed his

name and rank, and required the use of a coach to take us to

Musselburgh in the name of the King, he made no demur, especially as

his conscience was quieted and any resentment mitigated by a guinea

which the soldier flung to him with a prodigal hand.

At his gesture, I preceded my captor into the coach, and sank back in

the thick cushions of the seat with a great feeling of relief. Sir

Hugh clambered in after me, shut the door, and sat down by my side.

"I should relieve you of the annoyance of my presence," he said, "by

riding on the box were it not for this unseemly appearance."

He pointed to his head, and my heart really smote me. I would have

killed him I suppose to secure the warrant, if it were necessary, but

I had no wish to see him suffer, thereafter. I was ever an impetuous

woman, and at once I spoke my thought.

"Sir, you must be holding me strangely indifferent to one who hath so

delicately entreated me, but I am ashamed to say that I quite forgot

your wound."

"I forgot it, too," said Sir Hugh, "and, indeed, 'tis nothing to

worry about. Had I water and a towel, save for a raw scar for a few

days, there would be no evidence of it. I have had bullets into me

and through me seriously and often enough to make nothing whatever of

a trifling scratch like this."

"I thank God," I said fervently, "that it was only a scratch."

"Madam," he rejoined promptly, "you cannot be more grateful to

Providence for that than I am that my inadvertent bullet merely

grazed your shoulder."

"Yet, sir, had you stricken me down, I had been saved from a worse

fate."

Sir Hugh said nothing. The pause was almost unbearable. I broke it.

He seemed to be waiting for me to do so.

"What ... what is the punishment for treason?" I asked.

"The block, madam," was the sepulchral answer.

Now I was willing to die. Indeed, if my father had to die, I was

more than willing. At least I had been until now. But there was

something so sinister and horrible in the prospect my imagination

conjured before me at his word that I went white and shuddered.

"'Tis a hard fate," said Sir Hugh swiftly, "hard fate for a brave man

and harder for a sweet woman. There must be some way of avoiding it."

There was nothing that I could think of to say, no way that I could

see for avoiding it, so I perforce kept silence, biting my lip,

clenching my hands, and fighting back the tears that brimmed in my

eyes in spite of myself.

"Madam," asked Sir Hugh, at last looking at me very hard, "have I not

used you gently since the affair of this morning?"

"That you have!" I cried. "I shall not forget your kindness, your

delicacy about ... about my shoulder. A helpless maid could have

fallen in no gentler hands. I shall thank you for your treatment

during the rest of my short and unhappy life."

"Soldiers," said Sir Hugh, "are not always so black as they are

painted. I am glad to hear you say that. I tried to treat you as I

would a sister or a wife, had I been blessed with either. Now, will

you allow me to question you on one or two points?"

"You may ask me anything, and anything that a woman may properly

reveal I shall not keep back. I am glad to requite your services by

entire confidence."

"You say that your father is not guilty of high treason?"

"No," said I, "I cannot say that, but I do say he went with

Monmouth's adherents against his will; that he was in a measure

compelled to, and that there are many circumstances which mitigate

his offence against the King, so much so that, with the petition for

pardon, we are persuaded that His Majesty will commute the sentence

perhaps to exile or confinement."

"I am a soldier of the King, and, therefore, what I say may appear

strange, but you interest me, madam. You interested me last night,

you interested me more this morning, and you interest me even more at

this moment."

If interest in his language did not spell some other word, then I

fear I was no judge of hidden meanings.

"There is one argument to which the King is rarely insensible," he

resumed rather guardedly.

"And what is that?"

"'Tis heard in the ring of the guinea upon his fellow."

"We are not without some argument of that sort," I replied.

"And how much, pray, do your resources amount to?"

"About three thousand pounds, I think," was my answer.

"Including the hundred I won from you last night?"

He took the wet purse from his pocket and balanced it lightly in his

hand.

"Including that," I said, humbly enough now in all conscience.

"Now, madam," he said, extending it to me once more, "I pray you as

the good comrade of a poor soldier, who, although he hath been

cozened by a woman, is not yet without some reputation, to accept

this trifle as part of your father's ransom."

I hesitated. It was hard for me to put my pride in my pocket, but he

had spoke me so fair and had treated me so well; his manner was so

winning--and we needed the money so much--I actually took it.

"That's well done," he said, clapping me lightly on the shoulder,

"and like a lad of spirit," he laughed.

I was unreasonably glad of his praise, I know not why; but honestly I

set down my feelings as they came to me. I did not resent the

friendly touch on my shoulder, either; its kindly animus was so

apparent.

"You have been very good to me," I said, extending my hand.

He took it in his own firm, brown one, and held it strongly, yet

without hurt.

"'Tis the first lad's hand I ever kissed," he laughed again, bending

over it and pressing his lips upon it.

How different that from the pressure of Master Dunner's lips, or of

any other that had touched my hand!

"I have put my pride in my pocket with my guineas," I said, "but what

avail either now? I have simply succeeded in getting myself in

prison with my father."

"There is many a thing happens between the arrest of a criminal and

his being clapped into a cell," interrupted Sir Hugh, with a

profoundly philosophic air. "But I have not yet finished my

catechism, my lady. I asked you last night had you a sweetheart, and

your confusion led me to believe that you... What am I to think now?"

"Sir," said I, "you have no right to question me as to my private

affairs."

"No right certainly, but as a friend, as a possible ally, I still

press for an answer."

"I have none."

"Answer or sweetheart?"

"Neither."

"And there is no gallant gentleman of Scotland to whom you are

pledged?"

"Would I be here if there were?" I answered sharply.

"True," said Sir Hugh.

"Now it is my turn to question. Why do you ask?"

"Not idly, your ladyship, I protest. I have a good reason."

"What is that?"

"Your true soldier never gives his reason until he has to."

"Oh!" I remarked, indignant at being thus flouted.

"Nevertheless," said he, "I shall give you mine. I am willing to

save you for yourself, not however for another man."

To save me! What could he mean? I stared at him, bewildered.

"I don't understand," I began.

"You will presently. Now, let me tell you something about myself. I

haven't a relative in the world, save a distant cousin, who would

succeed to the title and estates should anything happen to me. As I

hinted, I have admired and played with many women; I have loved none.

I have never seen my ideal, whose qualities I prated of to you so

volubly last night, until"--he paused significantly--"this morning."

"Oh, Sir Hugh!" I cried, "how can you thus make sport of my

misfortunes?"

"I was never more serious in my life, madam, and I tell you this in

order that you may understand my action and that consideration for no

other person than yourself need obtrude itself upon my course. I

intend, when we reach Edinburgh, to deliver you to..."

He stopped and looked hard at me, the conclusion hidden.

"The Lord Chief Justice," said I, completing his sentence. "It is

just."

"To worthy Master Dunner, your attorney. I intend to place in his

hands bills of exchange on my London bankers for the sum of seven

thousand pounds, which, with your own three thousand, will better

serve to move the King to grant your petition when you present it to

him. His Majesty will be at Durham within a week. You can reach him

there and save yourself the long journey to London."

I stared at the man in bewildered amaze, scarce at first

comprehending the meaning of his easy sentences.

"But I am a prisoner," I faltered.

"My lady," was the answer, "you are as free as air. You can leave

the carriage this moment, at your will, though I trust you will do

nothing so precipitate and foolish as that departure would be."

"Then you don't mean to lodge information against me, and have me

charged with treason, and imprisoned, and..."

"I mean to say..."

"But your failure to deliver the warrant? How can you..."

"That's easily explained. I was robbed by highwaymen, and..."

"But your honour, your reputation?"

"I think they will survive even such a strain," he continued easily.

"The seven thousand pounds?"

"I devote it to the service of your ladyship and your cause. The

Earl, your father, can repay it at his convenience."

"And what," I asked, in my confusion, "hath brought me this noble,

this most generous treatment from an enemy?"

"May you never have a worse enemy in all your life, Lady Katharine,

than the one who now sits by your side."

The revulsion from despair to hope again was too great to be borne.

When I realised the full purport of his words, I could scarce contain

myself. I could find no words adequate to the situation. My usually

ready tongue was paralysed. I knew not with what speech to break the

silence.

"What hath so greatly changed you?" I inquired at last.

"You have," said the man bluntly.

I confess I liked the direct simplicity of the answer. Without

giving me time for comment, he ran on:

"As I told you, I never saw a lad whom I liked better on short

acquaintance than I did you last night. That you have turned out to

be a woman in the morning, has only strengthened my"--he

hesitated--"my regard," he added.

And, if that word did not spell what he had called interest had

spelled to me before, again I was ignorant of the finer shades of

meaning in the language.

"Never," said he, "in all my goings out and comings in through this

little world, have I met a woman like you. I owe you a score which,

I fear me, I shall never pay: that you, a mere girl, should have got

the better of me, a tried soldier, fills me with shame and with

admiration at the same time. I like your spirit. Should we have met

under happier circumstances, it would have been my chief ambition

to..."

He stopped suddenly. It was most annoying. I was burning to hear

the completion of the sentence.

"To what, sir?" I asked. "Why don't you finish?"

"Madam," said he meaningly, "as a soldier and a gentleman, I put no

price upon my services to a woman;" whereat I was discreetly and

deliciously silent.

It was noon when we rode into Musselburgh. Sir Hugh, making such

excuse as would serve to justify our condition, ushered me into a

private room of the inn with all the care and tenderness that my sex

and helplessness merited. He left me to my own devices for a little

space, and returned presently with a physician, the chief

practitioner of the town. The doctor much marvelled, I doubt not,

but questioned me not at all, because, as I afterward learned, Sir

Hugh had warned him to make no inquiry as to what he saw. He sewed

up the wound, re-bandaged it, complimenting the skilfulness with

which it had been treated by the way, declared that I would suffer no

great inconvenience from it, that it would be well in a short time,

and left me.

After his departure, there was set before me the daintiest and most

delicate meal, which I partook of alone, although, to be honest, I

would have greatly enjoyed the company of my captor. I took occasion

to freshen my face and hands, and lie down for a half-hour's quiet

rest before Sir Hugh tapped on the door.

"How fare you, madam?" he asked, after I had arisen and bade him

enter.

"Excellently well," was my answer. "I am greatly refreshed by the

surgeon's visit, my meal, and this hour of quiet."

"Canst sit a horse, think you?"

"As well as ever in my life," I replied.

"Well, then, I have two here, and, if you are ready, we will ride."

Sir Hugh had bought himself a hat; the surgeon had attended to his

wound--the white bandage about his forehead was not unbecoming to one

of his soldierly appearance and bearing. He had made such

explanations as were necessary, and, although there was quite a crowd

about the door of the hostelry as we came forth and mounted our

horses and rode away side by side, there was no demonstration.

We passed the time before we reached Edinburgh, riding slowly and

being passed by several horsemen, in much pleasant converse, tacitly

avoiding the subject uppermost in our hearts. Sir Hugh gave me much

sage information about the King and how to approach him, for which I

was deeply grateful.

His uniform and imperious presence procured us free entry through the

gates, although it was well toward evening when we reached the town.

Nothing would do thereafter but that he must escort me to my

hiding-place. It was perhaps reckless and imprudent of me to allow

him to have knowledge of it, but such had been his kindness to me

that I could deny him nothing. I piloted him, therefore, by the back

streets to the rear of our lodging. We tethered the horses to the

fence and entered the house by the back way. Master Dunner, who had

heard the clatter in the alley, met me at the kitchen door.

"Have you succeeded?"

"Beyond our wildest dreams," I said.

"Who is this?" asked the old man, peering back of me at the towering

form of the soldier.

"This," said I, "is Sir Hugh Richmond."

"Good God!" exclaimed the attorney, "have you taken him, my lady, as

well as the warrant?"

"Indeed," said Sir Hugh, laughing, "I think in truth she hath."

_Chapter_

VII

_Wherein, at the Request of Lady Katharine Clanranald, whom he loved,

Sir Hugh Richmond takes up the Tale, relating what happened to him in

the Tolbooth Prison_

Lady Katharine Clanranald has asked me to make this personal

contribution to her veracious narrative.

I shall not soon forget the mystification and surprise of worthy

Master Dunner, counsellor-at-law. I could well understand his

amazement. That the emissary of the King, presumably bearing the

royal warrant for his patron's execution, should appear at his

carefully selected hiding-place in the company of her ladyship was

surely inexplicable.

His wonderment and admiration grew after we had entered the

dining-room and were seated about the table partaking of the

excellent repast his worthy factotum had provided when, with some

promptings from me when she would fain have minimised her own heroic

part, the adventures of Lady Katharine were related to him. His

legal mind was quick to grasp the salient fact that the warrant had

been destroyed and that no execution could take place, therefore,

until it had been supplied by a new one. When this fact had been

thoroughly apprehended to his satisfaction, he had time to give

thought to other matters, and he proceeded to cross-question us both

with a searching power by which he learned everything that had

occurred.

"Why," he asked me, "did you determine upon this quixotic action

which would result in such serious consequences to yourself, sir,

were it disclosed to the King?"

"Master Dunner," said I meaningly, "if the good reason for my action

be not apparent to you, then all I can say, sir, is that you are a

very blind man."

At which her ladyship blushed divinely. She looked charming as a

boy, so winning, indeed, that I could scarce imagine her fascination

enhanced by any change of apparel whatsoever, and I should have kept

her a boy forever were it not that I could not see how in that

capacity I could change her name from Clanranald to Richmond, which I

was firmly purposed to do at the first convenient opportunity,

provided her consent could be obtained, and of that I was bold enough

to feel hopeful.

"Sir Hugh," she said, almost in answer to my unspoken thought, "I

have to thank you for kindness so great that I know not how I shall

ever repay you."

"I have rendered you some slight service, madam, a tribute to your

gallantry and devotion, as one soldier might to another, and there is

no word of repayment ever to be mentioned betwixt us," I said. "But

now it grows late. I am expected at the castle to-night, I infer

from what Master Dunner hath said, and it will be necessary for me to

take my departure without further delay."