Red looked at her in mild surprise, and then trotted off obediently, muttering to himself as he ran and letting the words keep tune to the soft pad of his feet. “He—wants—An—ny—to—go—to—morrow—and no—one—will—stay—him.”
He was very hot and breathless by the time he reached Nan’s hut, and he stammered out the words to the old woman, who listened eagerly, a strange light in her eyes.
“To-morrow?” she said as the boy sank down on the floor panting and gasping.
Red looked up.
“Yes,” he said, and added: “And no one will stay him.” He repeated the words as though they held no meaning for him.
A fierce expression grew on Nan’s rugged face and she bent down to the little fellow and shook him half-angrily.
“You lie, boy, you lie,” she said, her face very close to his. “Do you hear?—you lie—for there is one who will stay him, nay, who shall. Get back to your sister—tell her not to fear.”
CHAPTER XXIV
“AH, MASTER GILBOT, ’twill be a deal quieter than this to-morrow night, I reckon.”
Master Granger leaned across from his seat in the chimney corner and jerked his head in the direction of the body of the room where everything was in commotion.