'No one answered. Bessie tried to speak, but her voice died away into a whisper; and she could only cast an imploring, frightened glance at Mrs. Fortescue, who, resolved to make one last effort on behalf of her pupils, came forward and said in a tone of intense earnestness:
'"Once more, sir, let me remind you that these poor children cannot be answerable for the part they took in this matter. Whatever they have done, if not by Madame St. Aubert's express desire, was at least with her permission. You see what children, what mere babes, some of them are. What can such as they do for good or for ill in such high matters? It were surely the most cruel, shameful injustice——"
'"I pray you, madam, to hold your peace, and let them speak for themselves," interrupted Master Noakes, waving his hand authoritatively.
'"Let me at least say this much," persisted Mrs. Fortescue, not daunted by his rough words and imperious manner: "Mistress Henrietta Sidney neither gave money to Colonel Dare, nor had aught to do with the decorations, or the banner; and as to her knowledge of the Duke's coming, it was by simple chance that——"
'"No matter—no matter," quoth Master Noakes, cutting her short again. "She shall tell her own tale, I say. Now then, mistress," and he beckoned imperiously to Henrietta. "You heard what I said. Come, speak out, yea or nay?"
'"I did know of the Duke of Monmouth's plot full three days before he landed," she began firmly, after a moment's hesitation, "but I did not——"
'"Pshaw! no 'buts;' we can't wait for 'buts.' You admit that you did know; that's quite enough." Then he repeated his question to Bessie and me, and the little man with the tablets jotted down our answers as before, looking at us at the same time with a grim, half-amused, half-contemptuous smile, which was more disagreeable than I can describe. A strange chill of fear crept over me when I had whispered "yes" to Master Noakes's query. For the first time I saw that the danger coming upon us was very real and very near, and that there was no one to save us from it. I shall never forget how cold and sick with terror I felt for the next few minutes. It was a sensation that I had never known before. Bessie's answer was firm and frank—given in one of her impulsive bursts of courage; and she made a vigorous attempt to show Henrietta's innocence, and to take upon herself all blame for my share in what Master Noakes called "these treasonable doings;" but she was silenced as summarily as Mrs. Fortescue, and Henrietta herself, had been. And then at last we heard our fate—part of our fate at least: we were to be taken to prison; to jail!—and what would come afterwards we dreaded to imagine. It was for Judge Jeffreys to decide that,—Judge Jeffreys, of whom lately we had not been able even to think without hatred and horror. This sentence overwhelmed us all three. I burst into tears, and Bessie, after struggling for a moment to control herself, did likewise. Henrietta shed no tears: she made some incoherent, half-choked exclamation, and then stood quite silent; while the colour faded slowly out of her face, and she trembled so much that she was obliged to lean against the wall. Again Mrs. Fortescue tried to speak for us, doing her best to keep back the bitter indignation that was expressed plainly enough in her countenance. But in vain she forced herself to be calm and moderate, and to remonstrate as gently as possible against the cruelty of shutting up young girls of our age and rank in the common jail of Taunton. In vain she implored that, if we must go, she might be allowed to go with us; and, when that was refused, tried to secure a promise that at least we should be placed in a room by ourselves. The terrible fever known to be raging in the jail at this time was, she pleaded, reason enough for this—to say nothing of the sort of companions among whom we were likely to be thrown in such a place. But not the slightest effect did these arguments seem to have upon the two agents of Judge Jeffreys. They flatly refused to give the promise for which she begged so earnestly; and as to allowing her to accompany us, that was quite out of the question. She must stay to superintend her own imprisoned household, until it was settled what was to become of them. After that, her wish to see the inside of a jail might, doubtless, be complied with. Then they urged us to make ready for departure, without more loss of time; and Mrs. Fortescue, seeing that remonstrance was utterly useless, and in fact only likely to make matters worse, led the way out of the room, silently motioning to us to follow her—some crying audibly, some clinging together, hardly venturing to exchange remarks in half-stifled whispers, but all darting back nervous, anxious glances to see if Master Noakes was keeping a close and watchful eye on our movements. Yes, there he was close behind us; but, to our intense relief, he came no further than the first landing-place, and there took up his station, contenting himself with shouting, now a remark to his friend at the foot of the stairs, now an injunction to us in the room above to bestir ourselves about our preparations, or he would come and pack up our baggage himself. Oh, what a relief it was to shut the doors, and feel that at length we might speak without every word we uttered being noted down; and what a scene of confusion began now we were no longer under restraint. Bessie gave way entirely the instant she found herself in her own room. She threw herself upon the bed, and cried and sobbed so passionately that I felt almost appalled. This only was wanted to set flowing the tears of a good many more among us,—of Agnes Blount among the rest, who clung round my neck, weeping as if her heart would break. I had never before known how much we cared for each other. Meanwhile, moving about quietly amidst the buzz of voices, unmoved and unhindered by the girls who chattered, the girls who cried, and the girls who did nothing but stand in the way, Mrs. Fortescue, with the help of Henrietta and one or two more, collected the few necessaries that we were to take to our new quarters, and put them up together in the smallest possible compass; then, this business completed, she turned her attention to us. And we certainly were in need of it; for by this time Agnes's grief had infected me, and I was in almost as deplorable a condition as Bessie. Henrietta still kept her self-command, but she did not make any attempt to comfort us. Perhaps it was her intense shyness and reserve that stood in the way, perhaps it was the fear of breaking down herself—I do not know which; but all she did was to pause in her operations, and cast a wistful look towards me now and then, as if she were longing to speak, but dared not. Oh, how I longed for mamma at that moment! It seemed to me that I had never missed her before as I did now—no, not on that dismal day of my first coming to school. Poor mamma! had she any idea, I wondered, of the great trouble into which her unlucky little daughter had fallen.
'You see, the penny postage had not even been dreamed of in those days; and such a great event as the arrival of a letter had only happened to me twice since my arrival at Madame St. Aubert's. The last epistle had been written just after Sedgemoor; and my mother, little suspecting how my fortunes would be affected by that disastrous battle, called it "that most happy and thank-worthy dispensation of Providence," and bade me rejoice that the King's enemies were scattered, and the arch-rebel Monmouth safe in the Tower. And I had written an answer to that letter, but Madame St. Aubert had forbidden me to say anything about the Bible and the banner; or indeed to make any allusion to the part which she and her pupils had taken in the Duke's reception at Taunton.
'"During the disturbed state of the country," Madame said, "there was no knowing what might become of the letter, so it was as well to be as guarded as possible."
'When I thought of these things, I felt quite in despair about my story ever coming to mamma's ears, while my longing for her became more intense every minute. Presently Mrs. Fortescue's cool, firm hand was laid on my forehead, and then my arm was round her, and my burning, tearful eyes hidden upon her shoulder.