"Maisie May!" I said again at the window, very softly.
I heard her move, and in a moment she came to the lattice, and put her hand on the sill.
"Oh, William!" she said, "is it indeed you and not a dream?"
"It is even William Gordon!" I said, sorry that I could not do more than touch her fingers through the thick bars of the guard-house.
"You must go away at once," she said; "there are three soldiers sleeping no further off than the door."
"We will rescue you to-morrow, Maisie," I said.
"And get yoursel's killed!" she said. "Do not try it, for my sake."
"Well, for your father's!" I said.
And at that she said nothing.
Then she told me that the young officer in command was a lad from one of the good families of the North, and that he treated them civilly. But that, having lost a prisoner on a former occasion, he might happen to lose his life if he let slip so noble a taking; which made him careful of his prisoners with a great carefulness. As well it might; for the Privy Council was not to be trifled with in those days.