"Well, sir, we are your prisoners; and shall, I suppose, be sent to London, there to be held until our father is in the usurper's hands, which will not be, believe me, for years yet."
Oswald was silent. The two girls, some seventeen or eighteen years of age, both possessed singular beauty they had inherited from their father; and bore themselves with an air of fearlessness that won his admiration. He was still but a lad and, thinking of the years these fair girls might pass in a prison, he felt a deep pity for them. He drew Roger aside.
"What think you, Roger? Must we send these fair young girls to prison?"
"In faith, I know not, master. Having been shut up many a time in a cell, I have a sort of fellow feeling for prisoners; and indeed, two fairer maidens I have never seen. Our orders were to look after Welshmen, and see that they did not attack us. No word was said of Welsh women. And besides, they were running away, and not thinking of attacking us."
"That is all very well, Roger, but I cannot deceive myself. There is no doubt that it is our duty to take these two maidens prisoners, but my heart aches at the thought that they might pass years of their lives in a prison. They are not responsible for their father's misdeeds and ambition, and it may be that, if they are restored, Glendower may be induced to treat those who fall into his hands mercifully. None but ourselves know of this, and no one need ever know.
"I will risk it, anyhow," he said after a short pause. "I know that I am not doing my duty in letting them go; and that, were it ever known, I should lose all chance of further advancement, if indeed I did not lose my life. However, it need never be known, and my conscience would sorely trouble me, whenever I thought of them shut up in one of King Henry's prisons."
He turned to the girls again.
"Think you, ladies," he asked, "that were you in the king's hands, your father would make terms and submit himself?"
"Certainly not," the one who had spoken before said. "He has other children--sons and daughters--and he would not dream of abandoning his rights, and betraying his country, to obtain the liberty of two of us."
"In that case, then, your imprisonment would in no degree stop this war, or bring about a renewal of peace between the two countries?"