She chafed her cold little hands while she waited hopefully for his reply.
Rupert had his answer ready. Indeed, for twenty-four hours he had thought of little else.
"We cannot well go back to Monksfield," he said, "for no doubt the place hath fallen by now."
Merrylips nodded gravely.
"If I had known!" she said in a low voice. "I wish now I'd shaken hands with Lieutenant Digby, since he was fain to do so."
"Well," said Rupert, "we can't go back, so we must needs go forward. And since King's Slynton is no longer a Royalist garrison, we must make our way to the nearest place that is. But we will not make such long marches as we made yesterday!" he added.
Merrylips was glad to hear those last words, for she was lame in every muscle. But she did not say that she was glad, lest Rupert think her a little milksop to be so quickly tired. Instead she asked:—
"Where is the Royalist garrison to which we shall go now? I pray thee, tell me!"
No doubt Rupert would have liked to seem wise in everything to this younger lad, but he was an honest boy. Though he hesitated, he presently spoke the truth.
"That I do not rightly know," he said. "These parts are strange to me, and Captain Norris was so sure that we should find shelter at King's Slynton that he told me nothing of the ways beyond. But we must go westward, I know, to reach the king's country."