The secretary came to them in a few minutes, and handed them the order.
“My Lord of Canterbury is detained,” he said; “he bade me tell you gentlemen that he could not see you again.”
Sir James was standing up and examining the order.
“For four?” he said.
“Why, yes,” said the secretary, and glanced at the four men.
Chris put his hand on his father’s arm.
“It is all well,” he whispered, “say nothing more. It will do for Beatrice.”
CHAPTER XII
THE TIDINGS AT THE TOWER
They debated as they stood on the steps in the sunlight five minutes later, as to whether they should go straight to the Tower, or back to Charing and take Beatrice with them. They spoke softly to one another, as men that have come out from darkness to light, bewildered by the sense of freedom and freshness that lay round them. Instead of the musk-scented rooms, the formidable dominating presence, the suspense and the terror, the river laughed before them, the fresh summer breeze blew up it, and above all Ralph was free, and that, not only of his prison, but of his hateful work. It had all been done in those few sentences; but as yet they could not realise it; and they regarded it, as they regarded the ripples at their feet, the lapping wherry, and far-off London city, as a kind of dazzling picture which would by and by be found to move and live.
The lawyer congratulated them, and they smiled back and thanked him.