She cried out.
"So soon! Must it be, Robert? Sure, the lad should have some respite from toil and fear!"
"If he is to go, he must go then," rejoined Juggins. "'Twas because I felt as you did that I said what you heard, granny."
"And 'twas because he had a sound heart in him that he answered as he did," she snapped. "If he is to go, he should go, I dare say; and the greater the peril, the greater the reward. Now come with me. The meal is made ready."
She plied us with questions as we ate, demonstrating a keenness of mind that continually amazed me.
"So Master Murray hath engaged three berths on his own behalf, aside from the Frenchman," she commented. "Who could he have with him?"
"The negro servant," I hazarded.
"That is true," assented Juggins. "He is Tom, Murray's body-guard. An evil brute, by all accounts."
"But still there is a third place," insisted granny.
"Another servant!" I suggested.