"He seemed to make so light of the danger which threatened him, when he was here just now, that I had begun to think that blackguard Daniel Pye was naught but a clumsy blackmailer. And yet, milor—I—I mean our milor—he thought the matter grave, and went forth very hurriedly to warn his kinsman."
"Father dear, I would give anything to have further news," said Rose Marie, who was trembling with agitation. "Do, I pray you, let us go forth and try and find out something more."
But even as with feverish movements, she began putting on a cloak and hood, the door opened and Rupert Kestyon entered. Rose Marie stared at him as if she had seen a ghost, and Master Legros murmured in complete bewilderment:
"You—you, my lord—then, thank God!—it is not true."
"What is not true?" queried the young man, who also seemed labouring under grave agitation, for his cheeks were almost grey in colour, and his lips twitched painfully as he tried to control the tremor of his voice.
"That you have been arrested, my lord!" said Legros. "They told us that you had been arrested for treason and—"
"They told you lies, no doubt," broke in Rupert roughly, "as you see I am safe and sound. The horses are put to," he added with obvious want of control over his own impatience. "I pray you, Madam, to descend as soon as you are ready, and you, too, good Master, and to enter the coach without parleying with the crowd. You need have no fear; they will not molest you."
"We are ready, milor—I mean sir," said Papa Legros, who was taken with an exceptionally severe attack of his usual fussiness. "I pray you give your arm to my daughter—I will follow close on your heels."
"My lord," it seems, was so agitated that he even forgot his good manners, and curtly bidding the others not to linger, he darted out of the room, and had even disappeared down the corridor before Rose Marie had had time to collect her little bits of hand luggage.
She went back to the window which gave on the covered balcony that on this floor ran all round the house, overlooking the yard. The excitement down below was evidently reaching fever pitch; every one was rushing toward the gate and the yard itself was for the moment left deserted. Only one ostler remained at the horses' heads, and his head, too, was turned in the direction of the gates. The driver had emerged from the depths of the vehicle and together with his mate was hoisting the Legros' luggage into the boot. He, too, however, craned his neck from time to time, trying to see beyond the dense knot of human heads which totally obstructed both the view and the passage out into Fleet Street.