"Thank you, Master Rashcliffe," she said; "you are a brave man."
"What do you mean?" I stammered.
"I am safe now. You need not fear for me any more. I thank you from the depths of my heart."
"But you are not arrived at your destination yet."
"No, but I shall be there soon. You see those trees? Once behind them I am safe."
"But——"
"It will not be well for you to come farther, Master Rashcliffe. You need not fear for me. Forgive me if I desire to be alone. It is not because I am not grateful. You have saved me from death, a terrible death. Good-bye. We shall never meet again."
My heart grew cold within me. "You have told me nothing," I stammered. "That is, the time may come when I can be of—that is, I desire to be your friend, even as I told you more than a week ago at—that is, on the night I saw you first."
"No, no. I had better tell you nothing. If I am not taken prisoner again—which I shall not be; no, I will die first!—you will never see me more. But I will pray for you, pray that God will preserve you and give you happiness. But tell me," she cried, and it seemed as though she had remembered something else, "can you get away in safety? You must have had difficulty in coming to me."
"There is no need to fear for me, Mistress Constance," I said, fearing to give her pain on my account, and thus saying words which I was far from being sure of. "I will get away from Bedford without any man being the wiser, and you need not fear that I will ever tell any man that I have seen you. But I thought not to part from you so soon. There are many things I would ask of you. Much hath happened since I saw you last, and perchance you can give me an explanation."