“No matter; I'll have them!” rejoined Sir Leycester.
“If you really are going on this gipsy-hunt, my dear uncle, I'll go with you,” said Captain Danvers.
“No, no; I don't want you, Charles,” rejoined Sir Leycester. “Remain with the ladies. You must stay till I return, my dear Mrs. Calverley.”
She promised that she would; and, after a word or two with Lady Barfleur, he proceeded to the stables, and ordered a hunter to be saddled immediately. He also told Booth, the coachman, on whom he could place reliance, that he should require him and a couple of grooms to attend him.
While the horses were being saddled, a footman brought a brace of pistols, which Sir Leycester had sent for.
Armed with these, and accompanied by Booth, and one of his own grooms, together with his nephew's groom, Tom, he set out on the expedition, shaping his course towards the further side of the morass, where he expected to find some traces of the robbers.
IX. LADY BARFLEUR.
Lady Barfleur had been a very fine woman in her day, and though her beauty was now somewhat passed, she was still a stately dame, and accorded extremely well with the old mansion of which she was mistress.