Betteris led them to an open door. Beyond it stood a screen of carved wood.
"My father sitteth yonder at dinner," she said. "Come thy ways in, Merrylips, and fear not, for he is a kind soul."
And then she added, in a little different tone, to Rupert:—
"Come you, too, boy!"
Rupert hung back.
"My lord doth not wish to see me," he muttered. "Let me be gone whence I came."
"Why, go, an thou wilt, sirrah," said Betteris, lightly.
But Merrylips caught Rupert's hand.
"No, no!" she cried. "Rupert, 'tis as well now as any time, since she doth say my lord is kind. Oh, Rupert, come with me, and we will tell him who thou art, and haply he will believe us."
"Dost thou dare?" said Rupert, breathlessly.