"Highwaymen attacking travellers!" answered her companion, standing straight up, but with her head still inclined in an attitude of keen attention. "Listen, Cherry, listen! Is it the beating of my heart, or is that sound the galloping of horses' hoofs upon the road? Hark! Yes, they grow louder they come this way! Down, Cherry! We must rush to the gates and have them open and take them in!
"Cherry, listen! Be calm, be quiet! Run thou to old Thomas and to Dyson and the rest; tell them what we have heard. I must for the keys. I must have them whether our aunt wills it or no. There be no place of refuge save this for miles around. Here must they find shelter from their foes. It is Lady Humbert's will; I must fulfil it."
All the while Kate spoke she was running swiftly along the boarded floor, with Cherry keeping pace at her side; and as she dashed down the staircase she paused for a moment and took from the place where they hung two matchlocks, which she knew were always kept loaded, and these she laid quietly down in the hall. Then she opened the parlour door, and walked boldly forward to the spot where the keys lay. Possessing herself of these, she said quietly:
"Be not affrighted, Aunt Dowsabel, but there be folks in trouble on the road. They are pursued by robbers, I fear. I am about to unlock the gates, that we may draw them into safe shelter here."
Petronella sprang to her feet, and Mistress Dowsabel uttered a sharp scream of terror.
"Kate, I forbid it--I forbid it!" she gasped. "The gates shall not be unlocked! Dost hear, child? They shall not be unlocked! We shall have the whole horde upon us, we poor unprotected women! Kate, come back, come back! The keys are mine; I am mistress here! It shall not be done! Girl, I will not be thus defied!"
But Kate was already half through the hall, where the terrified servants were mustering. She had seized up the matchlocks, and now thrust one of them into old Thomas's shaking hands.
"Take it!" she said, "and when I am gone lock and bolt the door behind me an your lady desires it. But I will not disobey my Lady Humbert, and she would have done as I do now. I go to the gate and I hold it open. I draw within its shelter the pursued, and I strive to close it against the pursuers. All within these walls will be safe.
"Thy place is here, Thomas, beside thy mistress. She will die with terror if thou leave her. I am strong enough to unbar the gates alone, and I have this weapon, which I know how to use.
"Hark! there be cries along the road. The pursuit draws nigh."