“Pah! What is the use of all that when we know that you are driven away and dare not show your face? Oh, do think again. Can’t you let us come and join you?”
“It is impossible, my boy. Don’t press me. I have too many troubles as it is. Look here, Frank; you are growing fast into a man, and you must try to help me as you did just now when I turned weak and foolish. The intense longing to see your mother was too much for me, but I have mastered it. You two are safe and well-cared for at the Palace, where the Princess is your mother’s friend. I am nobody now, and what I do will not count as regards your mother and you. So try and be content, and stay.”
“But you, father? Surely the King will forgive you soon.”
“Never, boy,” said Sir Robert sternly. “So be careful. A hint dropped of my whereabouts would give your mother intense suffering and dread for my life; so she must not know.”
“But your friends, father? Captain Murray—the doctor. Every one likes you.”
“They must not know, so be cautious. I feel quite a young man, Frank, and don’t want to have my life shortened, nor my body neither,” he added, with a grim smile.
“Oh, father!” cried the boy, with a shudder.
“We must look the worst in the face, Frank. By my return here my life is forfeit, and the King’s people would be justified in shooting me down.”
“Oh, but, father, this is horrible.”
“Not to a soldier, Frank,” said Sir Robert, smiling. “Soldiers get used to being shot at, and they don’t mind so much, because they know how hard it is for any one to hit a mark. There, you are warned now, so let’s talk of pleasanter things.”