Hugh made room for him, then went on staring at the gray sky. Suddenly he broke out, “Dick, it was Captain Gwyeth sent me Bayard.”
“Ay?” the other answered, without surprise. “And I have it of Sir William, he was main urger, and drew him on to what seemed a hopeless attempt to gain our pardon.”
Hugh scowled at his boots. “I take it I must wait on him and tell him ‘thank you,’ when he comes back out of Warwickshire. I wish he had let me alone!” he cried.
“You are like your father,” Strangwayes said judicially, leaning back on the window-bench. “See to it, Hugh, you do not make the resemblance too complete.”
“How that?” Hugh asked guiltily.
“By giving way to your ugly pride, so you do what it may take months of repentance to undo.”
Hugh made no answer, and the silence between them lasted till the gallery was quite dark, when, slipping off the window-seat, they tramped away to their comrades below.
Next day Hugh gave himself up to Frank, who, truth to tell, in his present half-subdued state was pleasanter company than he had been at Oxford. He persuaded Master Pleydall to come out and view the town, which took them till mid-afternoon; and then they loitered back to the castle, with discreet turnings to avoid meeting any of the other officers. Frank dodged into a tavern to keep out of sight of Griffith, but he dragged Hugh half a mile down a blind lane to avoid a suspected encounter with Captain Turner. “Mayhap I was impudent and forward, so he got at last to ask my advice about conducting the troop, when others of the men were by. And I thought he meant it all in sober earnest.” Frank made a brave attempt at nonchalance, but his lips quivered so Hugh had an improper desire to chastise Michael Turner; for all his swagger and affectation, Frank had been too innocent and childish a lad to be scathed with the captain’s pitiless sarcasms.
Luckily they had no more encounters with men from the garrison till they were nearly at the gate of the castle, and then it was only Strangwayes, riding forth in full armor, with some twenty men behind him, to post the watch about the town for the evening hours. Hugh made him a formal salute, which Dick returned gayly before he rode on.
“Dick is right fond of you,” Frank said, with a shade of envy; and after that they sauntered in a moody silence, till, the sight of the stables cheering Frank a bit, he prayed Hugh come in and look at The Jade. “I’ve not seen the old lass since day before yesterday,” he explained.