Crown and Sceptre Part 65

"And they will accompany us, of course," said her visitor. "Will you tell them to get ready?"

"If you would not mind," said Lady Markham, appealingly; and without further parley Mistress Forrester crossed the room, tapped lightly, and pa.s.sed through the door, while Lady Markham darted to the curtain and seized her son by the arm.

"Am I doing right?" she whispered.

"Quite, dearest mother," he replied in so low a tone that she could hardly hear. "Some day perhaps Fred and I may be friends again."

"Then I am to go?"

"Yes; it will give me a chance to escape."

"They are dressed and ready," said Mistress Forrester, returning. "Poor things, they have not been to bed."

At that moment there was another tap at the door, and upon its being opened, Fred was standing there.

"The horses are ready," he said quietly. "I have had your pony saddled, Lilian. Lady Markham, the two servants will have to ride pillion behind a couple of our men."

For answer Lady Markham drew her hood over her head, and a.s.sisted Lilian, who was ready to burst into a fit of hysterical sobbing; and in fear lest she should betray her brother's whereabouts, her mother hurried her to the door, but stopped to see all out before her, leaving last, and taking the precaution to slip the key from the lock, lest some one should come and her son should find it fast.

Ten minutes later, Scarlett Markham stood at the window listening to the setting off of the little party, with his head well hidden behind the curtain, and remained motionless till the trampling of the horses died away in the silence of the night.

"Ah," he said to himself, "nothing could have happened better, as the enemy is in possession. Poor mother! Poor Lil! What a pang to have to leave the dear old home; but they will be away from the tumult and bloodshed if the rebels stand. Now for my news, if I can carry it without being caught."

CHAPTER TWENTY NINE.

SCARLETT ESCAPES UNDER DIFFICULTIES.

"Ugh! it's cold," said Scarlett, as he moved away from the window in his mother's chamber, and gave one look round in the gloom at the familiar old place, a.s.sociated with his childhood and boyish life before he was forced into this premature manhood by the exigencies of the war. "But never mind; I shall soon be warm enough--hot enough, if I am seen and pursued."

He tightened the belt he wore, and drew a long breath, as if about to start running. Then crossing the room softly, he opened the door, meaning, as his mission was at an end, to make a bold quick rush for the secret stair, to open the slide and pa.s.s in. If he made a little noise there, the sentry might hear it and welcome, he would discover nothing.

A sudden thought struck him.

"Capital!" he said to himself, joyously. "Fifty men quietly introduced by the secret pa.s.sage, and led right into the house. Why, we could surprise them all asleep, and the place would be taken without loss of life. What a result to an accidental discovery!"

Then a damping thought occurred.

"No," he muttered; "Fred will have remembered it, and made all safe.

Perhaps let us get in, and trap us. He is too clever to leave that place open. He has not had time to secure it yet. What a pity we two are on opposite sides!"

As he thought this, he involuntarily raised his hand to his shortly cut hair, and a look of vexation crossed his face.

"Forward!" he muttered, as if giving an order, and to put an end to his musings; and at the word he was in the act of pa.s.sing through the doorway, and had taken a step into the corridor when there was a sharp challenge from the sentry down in the hall. But the pa.s.sword was given, and by the sounds it seemed to Scarlett that two armed men had begun to ascend the stairs.

Yes, undoubtedly two, for one said something lightly, and he caught the reply.

"We'll soon see about that."

The words were in a subdued tone of voice, and pa.s.sing back into the room, Scarlett drew the door after him, leaving a mere crack, so that he could listen.

"Officers going to their quarters," he thought. "I wonder which room they occupy."

He listened, and they reached the top of the stairs, turning to the left, a movement which brought them towards him.

He would have closed the door entirely, but dreading a noise that might betray him, he left it ajar, and stood waiting for them to pa.s.s, but only to flush crimson with indignation as a sudden thought struck him in answer to his wondering question.

"They would not dare!" he e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed in an angry whisper; and he turned to flee into the farther room, where the servants had been, and where as a rule his sister slept. But as he moved towards it quickly, it occurred to him that there were no such voluminous curtains for hiding behind, and, quick as thought, he darted to his old place of concealment, only just having time to throw the heavy hangings round him as the door was thrust back, and two men strode into the room.

"The cowardly, plundering villains!" muttered Scarlett, and his hands involuntarily clenched, and he felt ready to rush out and face these nocturnal marauders, but he checked the desire.

"Poor mother!" he sighed; "she would not value every jewel she possesses as a featherweight against my safety. They must go, I suppose; but oh, what a delight to make the rogues disgorge!"

"Plaguey dark," said one of the new-comers. "Light enough for what we want to do, my lad. Shut and fasten the door. We don't want any one to share our bit of luck."

"No. Just enough for two. It may be weeks before we get such another chance."

They were evidently well-to-do men, by their conversation, probably officers; and Scarlett bit his lip with rage as he thought of his mother's watch and chain, and the beautiful set of pearls, his father's present to her in happier days. Then, too, there was a case with rings and brooches, beside many other elegant little trifles that would be welcome to a plunderer.

Once more the desire to rush out and face these wretches was strong upon him, but a moment's reflection told him that to do so was to surrender himself a prisoner, and place himself beyond the power of giving valuable information to the general, his father, who might unwittingly come on to his old home and walk into a trap.

"Better lose a thousand times as many jewels," he muttered, "than that.

Let them steal, for I suppose my poor mother would not have placed her treasures in a place of safety." He listened breathlessly behind the thick curtain, hoping that the plunderers would be quick and leave, and give him the opportunity to escape.

The chance came more quickly than he had antic.i.p.ated, for it seemed from the footsteps that the men had gone into the inner chamber, leaving him free to slip out.

His hand was upon the thick fold of the curtain, for all was still in his mother's room, and he was mentally going on tiptoe to the door, when there was a loud yawn from the _prie dieu_ chair close to the bed's head, and a voice almost at his elbow said--

"Well, what's it like?"

"Can't see much; but it seems a cosy little nest, as soft as can be."

"Which will you have, that or this?"

"Oh, I'll stop here," was the reply.

"Then may the trumpeter forget to blow for twenty-four hours," said the voice at Scarlett's elbow, "and the enemy never know that we are here."

"Amen!" came from the further room.

"And, I say," exclaimed Scarlett's neighbour, as he seemed to be moving about vigorously.

"Yes."

"Don't disturb anything. Poor ladies! it's like sacrilege to take possession here; but when there's a soft bed on one side and some straw on the boards of a loft on the other, one falls into temptation."

Clump went a heavy boot on the thick rug, and then another.

"Yes. Goodnight. Don't talk any more," came from the inner room.