The old servant, as though he wished the privacy of the mother and child to be undisturbed, had gone forward a few paces; but now he returned with a face expressive of both surprise and anxiety; and interrupted them:
"My lady, the boat! It has stopped at the water-gate, and several persons are landing from it."
"What boat?" said the lady hurriedly, grasping her child tighter as she spoke, and leading the horse forward in the direction indicated.
"The one we noticed awhile ago from the hill coming up from London. Shall I go forward and ask their errand?"
"Yes, Thomas, go quickly, but be calm, and do not irritate them; we will follow. There is no need of escaping if they are friends," she added to herself when the old servant was gone, "and if they are foes, there is no time."
Her look grew even more alarmed when she turned a corner and came in full sight of the advancing party, for her eyes fell first on the dress of a monk whose features were only too well known to her. But she had hardly time to consider what the danger was, before a figure detached itself from the group and came bounding toward her. "Mamma and Guy!" shouted a glad girlish voice, and in another moment the pale lady's arms were loosened from her son to clasp them around her daughter, and draw her tightly to her breast. Neither spoke for a moment--their joy and thankfulness were too great for words. Kate first broke the silence:
"O mamma! is it all true?" she cried, half laughing, half sobbing. "Am I really at home again? Oh! I am so glad! so glad! I thought the time would never come. And little Guy--what a big boy he has grown! And Rollo, and Thomas! O mamma! I do believe I am at home!"
"Sister Kate! sister Kate!" shouted the child, whose blue eyes had been opened wide with wonder at the scene, and who now just began to understand what was going on. "You have come back, though mamma said you would not; and there is papa, too!"
The lady started; after this wonderful meeting it seemed as though even the dead might return.
"O mamma! it is our kinsman, Sir John De Forest, and Geoffrey, and Father Paul. I should have told you at first, but I am so happy I forgot." And away bounded the happy girl to meet the others now close to them in the path.