I told Pierre that for the rest of the day he must hold himself in readiness to do my bidding. “Yes,” I answered to a question he asked. “Yes, it is against him, and you must keep yourself sober.”
Pierre tilted up his tankard and began to pour the beer in a small stream upon the sanded floor.
“I hate to let it go,” he said, disconsolately. “But if it is against him, I had rather keep sober.”
He looked wistfully at the floor where the beer had drained off into a thick layer of sand, leaving on the surface only a shrunken mass of breaking bubbles.
“Ah me!” sighed Pierre, rising. “I’ll wait in the Marmaduke kitchen. I hope they won’t offer me wine. It would bring tears to my eyes. But I’ll keep sober, never fear.”
I was sitting in my little gable room late that afternoon when I received a summons from Lady Marmaduke to attend her. She wanted to know whether I should like to go with her on her daily round of inspection of the offices. I was indeed glad of the opportunity. We visited the kitchens first, which were large and well appointed. Marmaduke Hall, from top to bottom, contained fully two score of people, and all the cooking for this numerous household was done here. Beyond the kitchen, in a bare, clay-floored outbuilding was a row of great iron pots, each one of which was large enough to boil an ox whole. Into one of them, beneath which roared a huge fire of logs, the servants were lowering some bags of food that were to be boiled for the live stock. I watched the process with interest. When the ponderous iron lid, which rose and fell by means of a pulley and chain, was put in place, the steam jetted out on all sides of it, rocking the lid with a loud clatter, and spurting from under the edge like the spokes of a wheel.
We passed thence to the dairy. Then we examined the stables and various other offices in succession till we reached the kennels. The thirty or more hounds barked and yelped at the appearance of their mistress. She patted them in turn and then we passed on.
“You may wonder at my attending to such things myself,” she said to me when we had returned to the Hall. Then she sighed. “I try to do everything myself just as Sir Evelin used to do.”
She fell into a reverie and did not seem to notice when I left her. With one thing and another I whiled away the time till dinner was over, and it had fallen quite dark outside. Then, just as I was beginning to grow impatient, came the summons from the Earl. It was but a line and was dated from the fort at half past seven.
“Four suspicious looking sailors have just proceeded to the Ferry-House. I think they are the men we spoke of. You will watch them and report as soon as possible.—Bellamont.”