“No, sir, not at such short notice, though it could be made a formidable place had we time.”
“I cannot let you go off on a private errand to-night, Major. You are indispensable to me, and I have given my word to Massey that I will join him at Tewkesbury early tomorrow morning. We must march from here in three hours’ time.”
The poor Major moved away with a look of such despair that Waller, always a most kindly and considerate man, hastily turned over in his mind two or three schemes for aiding him.
“You say you could place your daughter out of Norton’s reach. Where could you place her?”
“Here, sir, in Gloucester, under the care of my trusty friend, Alderman Pury. I know he would shelter her.”
“Well, let your servant ride home now and fetch the lady, rejoining you to-morrow evening at Tewkesbury.”
“My servant, sir, is the veriest dolt; I could not trust him with so risky a piece of work. Prince Maurice’s army is in the near neighbourhood.”
“Sir,” said Gabriel, coming forward, eagerly, “I beg you to let me serve Major Locke in this matter. I was at school at Gloucester and know the neighbourhood well.”
“So ho, young knight-errant!” said Waller, with his genial laugh. “You are in hot haste to rescue this fair lady, and I like you the better for it. But you are somewhat young for so hazardous a venture. We cannot tell what tricks this Colonel Norton may devise.”
“If there were two of us, sir,” said Joscelyn Heyworth, “we might the better outwit him.”