“You!” said Lady Markham, looking at the young officer in a startled manner, and then turning from him with a look of disgust, while he saw that Lil shivered.
“They look upon me as if I were some one who had been the cause of all this,” he thought; but his countenance lightened directly, as Lady Markham turned to him again, and said gently—
“Forgive me, Fred. This meeting brought up the past. It seemed so terrible that my boy’s companion should be among our enemies.”
As she spoke, she held out her hand, which Fred seized and held for a few moments before he could speak, and when he did give utterance to his words, they were in a voice broken by emotion.
“I am not your enemy, Lady Markham,” he said. “I would do anything to spare you pain. Lil, won’t you shake hands?”
The girl hesitated for a few moments, and then held out her little hand timidly, but only to turn to her mother directly, and cling to her as she strove to keep back her sobs.
“Ask him—ask him,” she whispered.
“Yes. Tell us, Fred—my poor boy,” said Lady Markham, in a low voice, so as to be unheard by the soldiers close at hand. “Where is my husband?”
“The last I heard of him, Lady Markham, was that he was with the Cornish men beyond Plymouth. They are all on the king’s side there.”
“But was he safe and well?”