“Well,” she said, smiling. “Will you not shake hands with me, Martin Hyde?”
“Yes,” I said, “I will shake hands. But you played a very mean trick, I think. There.”
“You mustn't think me mean,” she answered. “I don't like mean people. Now promise me one thing. You say you are going to run away from us. You won't run away from me when I am with you, will you?”
“No,” I said, after thinking this over, to see if it could be twisted into any sort of trap, likely to stop my escape. “I will not. Not while I am with you.”
“That's right,” she said. “We can go out together, then. Now you've promised, suppose we go out into the garden.”
We went into the garden together, talking of every subject under the sun but the subject nearest to our hearts at the moment. I would not speak of her capture of me; she would not speak of the Duke's march towards Taunton. There was some constraint whenever we came near those subjects. She was a very merry, charming companion; but the effect of her talk that morning was to make me angry at being trapped by her. I looked over the countryside for guiding points in case I should be able to get away. Axminster lay to the southeast, distant about six miles; so much I could reckon from the course of our morning's ride. I could not see Axminster for I was shut from it by rolling combes, pretty high, which made a narrow valley for the river. To the west the combes were very high, strung along towards Taunton in heaps. Due east, as I suspected, quite near to us, was Chard, where by this time the Duke must have been taking up his position. Taunton I judged (from a mile-stone which we had passed) to be not much more than a dozen miles from where I was. I have always had a pretty keen sense of position. I do not get lost. Even in the lonely parts of the world I have never been lost. I can figure out the way home by a sort of instinct helped by a glimpse at the sun. When I go over a hill I have a sort of picture-memory of what lies behind, to help me home again, however tortuous my path is on the other side. So the few glimpses which I could get of the surrounding country were real helps to me. I made more use of them than Aurelia suspected.
We were much together that day. Certainly she did her best to make my imprisonment happy. In the evening she was kinder; we were more at ease together; I was able to speak freely to her.
“Aurelia,” I said, “you risked your life twice to warn me.”
“That's not quite true, Martin,” she said. “I am a government spy, trusted with many people's lives. I had other work to do than to warn a naughty boy who wanted to see what the ghosts were.” I was startled at her knowing so much about me; she laughed.
“Well,” she said, “I like you for it. I should have wanted to see them myself. But the ghost-makers are scattered far enough now.”