“Ah! A straight question always merits an answer, Master—Master——But I know not your name,” said the boy. “I’m called Johan, and I’m bonded for a term of years to a man who has many names, and who plays many parts.”
“You are one of the play actors, then!” burst from Lindley’s lips.
“Yes, one of the play actors.” The lad’s words were simple, yet something in his tone gave new offense.
“I’ll have my cousin whip you from his lands before the morning’s an hour old,” spluttered Lindley.
The boy’s laughter rang through the woods.
“Master Ogilvie had already made that threat, but Mistress Judith sent him word that the day we were whipped from the common, that day would she whip herself from his house. Mistress Judith is, I think, only too ready to sign a bond with my master. She loves——She’d make a good actor, would Mistress Judith.”
There was a long silence. The two horses were again pacing with well matched steps through the miry road. Twice, when the moonlight shone full upon them, Lindley tried to see the lad’s face, but each time only the pointed hood of the slouchy cape rewarded his curiosity. From his voice he judged his companion to be not more than fourteen or fifteen years old, although his words would have proved him older.
Suddenly the lad spoke.
“If you are cousin to Master James Ogilvie, as you say, why you are, then, cousin, too, to my Mistress Judith. You have seen her lately? Possibly she has confessed her plans, her ambitions, to you!”
“Nay, I’ve not seen the girl since we were children,” admitted Lindley, almost against his will.