‘No,’ said he presently. ‘Only the dust blowing up from the highway. I’ve been fooled by that a dozen times already. That’s the four corners by Gerard’s Mill. It’s always windy there. How is the King now?’
‘The surgeon is still with him,’ Anne answered. ‘And you’d never guess who the surgeon is: it’s that old Doctor Seymour from our town, you remember? It seems he has become very famous since. But how on earth do you suppose the King came by such an accident, Luke? They say he stumbled and fell. Yet if he has not regained his senses since they picked him up, I don’t see how they know. Maybe someone hit him or something. Who was the first to find him?’
‘The Count Godfrey,’ said Luke. ‘He, at all events, is sure it was an accident. It seems he was on his way up to the royal apartments when he found the King lying at the foot of the tower stairs. He called me down to help. It looked like a badly sprained back to us—with a bump on his temple where his head had struck the stone steps. No bones broken. No signs of a struggle.’
‘Couldn’t the bump have been made by somebody hitting him?’ asked Anne. ‘Oh, I wish Giles were here!’
‘So do I,’ said Luke. ‘But he couldn’t help the King in this. Giles is no surgeon.’
‘I wish he were here, just the same,’ said Anne. ‘He might be able to find the man who did it. I am by no means sure the King wasn’t struck down by some enemies. Maybe the same people had something to do with the Countess’s disappearance, too.’
‘Oh, how you talk!’ cried Luke irritably. ‘I told you the message Giles gave me to bring: there was no kidnapping. Barbara is safe and sound. Why suspect anyone? It wasn’t half an hour after I had carried the message to the King that Count Godfrey called to me. It must have been an accident—a natural one, too. His Majesty hadn’t eaten anything since Barbara went. You’ve seen him yourself—as pale as a ghost. Well, a sudden fit of faintness as he was coming down those dizzy winding stairs; he stumbles and there you have it.’
‘Was he very glad to get Giles’s message?’ asked Anne.
‘Um—er—yes,’ said Luke, frowning. ‘He was overjoyed to hear no harm had come to her. Then he asked no end of questions, trying to learn more from me. But I could tell him nothing further—merely that your brother had galloped off into the night after giving me those few words—which I had brought to him in nine hours of the fastest riding a man ever did.’
‘Yes, you certainly wasted no time, to get here so early,’ said Anne.