What he said frightened me. When he had gone I went up and tapped on the door. But Marie would not let me in the room.
“She is resting now, Master Clin-tone,” said the French woman, and then shut the door in my face.
I couldn’t have slept then had I gone to bed. Beside, I was determined to talk with Ham when he came back. I wandered down stairs again and James, the butler, beckoned me into the dining room. At one end of the table he had laid a cloth and he made me sit down and eat a very tasty supper that had been prepared for me in the kitchen. This was an attention I had not expected. It served to bolster up my belief that I had some influence in my mother’s house, after all!
By and by I heard Ham drive in and I went out to the stables. We kept no footman, Ham doing all the stablework. I helped him unharness Bob and Betty, while he told me where he had taken the Downeses. There was a small hotel in the old part of the town, and my uncle and Paul had gone there for the night.
“They’ll probably attack the fortifications on the morrow, Master Clint—or, them’s my prognostications,” remarked Ham, in conclusion.
“Meaning they’ll come over here and try to see mother?” I asked.
“I reckon.”
“Then they’re not to be let in, Ham. I want them kept out. Dr. Eldridge says she should not be disturbed. I mean to see that his orders are obeyed.”
“And I’m glad to see ye take the bit in your teeth, sir,” exclaimed the coachman, with emphasis. “It’s time ye did so.”
“What do you mean, Ham?” I demanded, curiously.