Anthony made a little gesture of resignation. But, indeed, he had scarcely hoped to persuade her. He knew it was a formidable thing to ask of a countrybred maid.
"Then we must do as well as we can," he said. "In any case, I must go. There is a priest I have to meet in any case; he is returning as soon as he has bestowed the rest."
"Yes?"
"His name is Ballard. He is known as Fortescue, and passes himself off as a captain. You would never know him for a priest."
"He is returning, you say?"
A shade of embarrassment passed over the young man's face, and Marjorie saw that there was something behind which she was not to know.
"Yes," he said, "I have business with him. He is not to come over on the mission yet, but only to bring the others and see them safe—"
He broke off suddenly.
"Why, I was forgetting," he cried. "Our Robin is coming too. I had a letter from him, and another for you."
He searched in the breast of his coat, and did not see the sudden rigidity that fell on the girl. For a moment she sat perfectly still; her heart had leapt to her throat, it seemed, and was hammering there…. But by the time he had found the letter she was herself again.