"With swords or pistols?"
"Swords."
"I will be there;" and he passed on out.
When he had gone, I turned to Mistress Jean, who urged me to leave at once.
"You must go," said she, "for at any moment you may be tracked and discovered, and then——"
"And then—what?" I answered, smiling. "Do you think, Mistress Jean, that I, who travelled for miles through the snow and the storm last night to catch one glimpse of your face, that I, who at last stand in your presence, would give a thought to the noose around my neck?"
But she would not let me say her nay, and then her terror grew, until at last she told me that Lord Howe sometimes came home with her father at nine o'clock to talk over the plans of the spring campaign, and that every moment she expected to hear their voices in the hall.
"The sight of your face, Mistress Jean, has repaid me for my journey; but if you bid me go, why, then, it is fate, and go I must." Then a thought came to me. "Mistress Jean, tell me this before I leave in the enemy's camp all that is dearest on earth to me: tell me if you love that Highlander, if you care for him." And she, who a moment before was urging me to leave, stood silent, with her face turned away from me, with never a word to say.
And I, seeing how matters stood, took my courage in my hands, and, with a low bow, wished her good-bye.