lcolm, to
my cousin, Lord James Stanley."

I offered my hand to his Lordship, and said:--

"I thank you much for your timely help. I should not have deserted you had
I not felt that my first duty was to extricate Lady Madge from the
disagreeable situation. We must hasten away from here, or the mad rabble
will follow us."

"Right you are, my hearty," returned Stanley, slapping me on the shoulder.
"Of course you had to get the wench away. Where do you go? We will bear
you company."

I longed to pay the fellow for his help by knocking him down; but the
possibilities of trouble ahead of us were already too great, and I forced
myself to be content with the prowess already achieved.

"But you have not told me what brought you into the broil," asked his
Lordship, as we walked toward the inn.

"Sir Malcolm and I were walking out to see the town and--"

"To see the town? By gad, that's good, Cousin Madge. How much of it did
you see? You are as blind as an owl at noon," answered his Lordship.

"Alas! I am blind," returned Madge, clinging closely to me, and shrinking
from her cousin's terrible jest. I could not think of anything
sufficiently holy and sacred upon which to vow my vengeance against this
fellow, if the time should ever come when I dared take it.

"Are you alone with this--this gentleman?" asked his Lordship, grasping
Madge by the arm.

"No," returned Madge, "Dorothy is with us."

"She is among the shops," I volunteered reluctantly.

"Dorothy? Dorothy Vernon? By gad, Tod, we are in luck. I must see the
wench I am to marry," said his Lordship, speaking to his companion, the
stable boy. "So Dorothy is with you, is she, cousin? I haven't seen her
for years. They say she is a handsome filly now. By gad, she had room to
improve, for she was plain enough, to frighten rats away from a barn when
I last saw her. We will go to the inn and see for ourselves, won't we,
Tod? Dad's word won't satisfy us when it comes to the matter of marrying,
will it, Tod?"

Tod was the drunken stable boy who had assisted his Lordship and me in
our battle with the Brownists.

I was at a loss what course to pursue. I was forced to submit to this
fellow's company, and to endure patiently his insolence. But John and
Dorothy would soon return, and there is no need that I should explain the
dangers of the predicament which would then ensue.

When we were within a few yards of the inn door I looked backward and saw
Dorothy and John app