"None, my noble lord," answered the page. "She intended, I believe, but was prevented."
"That is most unfortunate!" cried his lord bitterly. "All is going wrong here, and one word might have been of vast importance--"
"I have something to tell, sir," said Frill, in a low tone, "if you would move down a little, for it is not fitted for all ears."
Algernon took a few steps down the hill, saying, "Speak, speak!" and the boy went on, in a voice raised little above a whisper, to detail all that had occurred since he had left his lord. When he came to the catastrophe, Algernon Grey turned deadly pale, shocked and horrified beyond expression. For several minutes he did not utter a word, but gazed upon the ground in sad and bitter silence. He was free--the heavy bond which had weighed upon him for so many years was broken--his liberty was restored; but how dark and terrible were the means! and with these his mind busied itself in gloomy thoughts ere it could rest on aught else.
"Who was the man?" he asked at length,--"the person you say came in by the window?"
"I did not see his face, my lord," replied the boy; "but I heard the voice of Sir William Ifford!"
"My lord, my lord!" cried the soldier Halford, coming back as fast as he could run. "Colonel Herbert desires you to advance to the pheasant-garden without a moment's delay, leaving nothing but a guard here."
Algernon Grey hurried up, called out the English and Dutch troops from the blockhouse and a small detached trench in front, arrayed them on the slope, and, telling the page to remain with the guard he left behind, ordered the men to advance at the charge by the winding path through the wood. The roll of musketry was now heard sharp and near, mingled with drums beating; and, falling back to the side of the man Halford, the young Earl demanded what he had seen and heard.
"There were full two thousand men, sir, advancing to storm the works in the pheasant-garden," he replied. "I counted ten Austrian ensigns myself; and there were a number of Bavarian troops behind."
"Were they near?" asked Algernon Grey.