“No. I never got a sight of them.”
“Or a pigeon?”
“No!”
“Did you not fire your gun at all?”
“Yes, at a rabbit,” Martin muttered. “Oh, we have had all that out, never fear I The gun has been fired, and I don’t deny it! I bagged a rabbit, but where it is now I don’t know! I can’t produce it! I never fired at you! ”
The Earl’s head lay back against the supporting pillow; from under drooping eyelids he was watching every change in Martin’s face. “Martin, why did you run away?” he asked.
“I didn’t run away!” Martin exclaimed.
“Hush! Not so loud! My valet is sleeping in the next room. Where, then, have you been?”
“I don’t know!” He saw his brother’s brows lift, and added, in a goaded tone: “Ask Chard! He will tell you fast enough! It was some village short of Wisbech where he picked me up: I don’t know its name!”
“I hope you mean to tell me what he was doing there, for I have not the remotest guess.”