ad. It was
done, and the man dead in an instant of time. The orderly, gazing at the
officer, looked seared for a moment, and galloped away for his life.

"Fire! fire!" cries out Father Holt, sending another shot after the
trooper, but the two servants were too much surprised to use their
pieces, and my lord calling to them to hold their hands, the fellow got
away.

"Mr. Holt, qui pensait a tout," says Blaise, "gets off his horse,
examines the pockets of the dead officer for papers, gives his money to
us two, and says, 'The wine is drawn, M. le Marquis,'--why did he say
Marquis to M. le Vicomte?--'we must drink it.'

"The poor gentleman's horse was a better one than that I rode,"
Blaise continues; "Mr. Holt bids me get on him, and so I gave a cut to
Whitefoot, and she trotted home. We rode on towards Newbury; we heard
firing towards midday: at two o'clock a horseman comes up to us as we
were giving our cattle water at an inn--and says, 'All is done! The
Ecossais declared an hour too soon--General Ginckel was down upon them.'
The whole thing was at an end.

"'And we've shot an officer on duty, and let his orderly escape,' says
my lord.

"'Blaise,' says Mr. Holt, writing two lines on his table-book, one for
my lady and one for you, Master Harry; 'you must go back to Castlewood,
and deliver these,' and behold me."

And he gave Harry the two papers. He read that to himself, which only
said, "Burn the papers in the cupboard, burn this. You know nothing
about anything." Harry read this, ran up stairs to his mistress's
apartment, where her gentlewoman slept near to the door, made her bring
a light and wake my lady, into whose hands he gave the paper. She was a
wonderful object to look at in her night attire, nor had Harry ever seen
the like.

As soon as she had the paper in her hand, Harry stepped back to the
Chaplain's room, opened the secret cupboard over the fireplace, burned
all the papers in it, and, as he had seen the priest do before, took
down one of his reverence's manuscript sermons, and half burnt that
in the brazier. By the time the papers were quite destroyed it was
daylight. Harry ran back to his mistress again. Her gentlewoman ushered
him again into her ladyship's chamber; she told him (from behind her
nuptial curtains) to bid the coach be got ready, and that she would ride
away anon.

But the mysteries of her ladyship's toilet were as awfully long on this
day as on any other, and, long after the coach