The young baronet hastened to do her bidding, and she moved by me, drawing her scented skirts aside, lest they should touch me in passing. At the door, still with her hand upon his arm, she turned.
“You have beaten me twice, sir,” she said, in a voice trembling with passion. “For your own sake beware of the third time!” And she swept out.
CHAPTER VI
OF HOW I PLAYED KNIGHT-ERRANT, AND OF MY LADY’S GRATITUDE
When my lady had left the room and the swish of her silken skirts had ceased I hastened to take my departure, for I did not doubt that if it was discovered I had come alone and that the troopers of whose presence I had talked so glibly existed only in my own imagination, her ladyship would take active measures for the recovery of the paper in my possession.
I stepped through the window, therefore, and sought the spot where I had left my horse. I took the bridle in my hand, and, avoiding the avenue leading to the gates, led him through the tangled undergrowth until we came out, some hundred yards below, upon the road.
Here I halted and looked back. There was no sound to break the stillness save the soft sighing of the night wind in the branches overhead. At my feet the white road stretched away into the night, silent and lonely.
I lost no time, therefore, in mounting, and a few minutes later, without molestation, reached the village.
As I rode up the main street I saw that the troopers had quartered themselves upon the inhabitants; for a dozen or more were lounging in the open doorways upon either side of the road, who upon catching sight of my face, stiffened their backs and saluted me as I passed. Before the inn itself a noisier group were gathered, whose laughter and jests died away for a moment as I dismounted, to again break out with renewed clamour when I had crossed the threshold.
Calling for a light, I made my way to the little chamber that I had previously occupied. Carefully fastening the door behind me and satisfying myself that I was indeed alone, I set the candle upon the little table and drew the precious paper from my breast—the paper big with the fate of my lady’s freedom! Perhaps in the temper of the times her life! For I well knew that in the nation’s present state of panic the government would have little consideration and respect for either rank or sex. And ’twas well known that the Earl of Ingram was one of James’s most trusted councillors.
The paper itself was a small sheet of coarse white parchment and was folded into three.