In accordance with this plan, Bundy, having been smuggled out of the inn by the back way, ten minutes later entered through the front door a second time. He found Clem in the taproom, and Clem no sooner laid eyes on him than he said that upon no account must Mr Ludovic know of his presence. He thrust him into Nye’s stuffy little private room and went off to summon the landlord. Mr Bundy sat down by the table and chewed a straw.
His interview with Nye did not take long, nor, since both men were taciturn by nature, was there much conversation. “Where’s young master?” inquired Bundy over his tankard.
Nye jerked a thumb upward. “Safe enough.”
“I reckoned you’d hide him up,” nodded Bundy, dismissing the subject.
“Ay.” The landlord regarded him thoughtfully. “He’s ripe for mischief, I can tell you. Maybe you’d best keep out of his way. You’re as bad as Clem for letting him twist you round his finger.”
“Happen you’m right,” conceded Bundy, retiring into his tankard.
Sir Tristram did not wait for Ludovic to reappear, and for obvious reasons Nye did not tell him of Bundy’s presence in the inn. He had a great value for Sir Tristram, but he preferred to keep his dealings with free traders as secret as possible. So Sir Tristram, having extracted a promise from Clem not to assist Ludovic to leave the inn that night, departed, secure in the conviction that without support his reckless young cousin could achieve nothing in the way of house-breaking.
“I am afraid we shall have Ludovic like a bear with a sore head,” prophesied Miss Thane pessimistically.
But when Ludovic came downstairs to the parlour again, he seemed to be in unimpaired spirits, a circumstance which at first relieved Miss Thane’s mind, and presently filled it with misgiving. She fancied that the sparkle in Ludovic’s angelic blue eyes was more pronounced than usual, and after enduring it for some while, was impelled to comment upon it, though in an indirect fashion. She said that she feared that Sir Tristram’s decision must be unwelcome to him. She was embroidering a length of silk at the time, but as she spoke she raised her eyes from her task and looked steadily at him.
“Oh well!” said Ludovic. “I’ve been thinking it over, and I dare say he may be in the right of it.”