emeanour.

Father Holt came to the Hall constantly, but officiated no longer openly
as chaplain; he was always fetching and carrying: strangers, military and
ecclesiastic (Harry knew the latter though they came in all sorts of
disguises), were continually arriving and departing. My lord made long
absences and sudden reappearances, using sometimes the means of exit which
Father Holt had employed, though how often the little window in the
chaplain's room let in or let out my lord and his friends, Harry could not
tell. He stoutly kept his promise to the father of not prying, and if at
midnight from his little room he heard noises of persons stirring in the
next chamber, he turned round to the wall and hid his curiosity under his
pillow until it fell asleep. Of course he could not help remarking that
the priest's journeys were constant, and understanding by a hundred signs
that some active though secret business employed him: what this was may
pretty well be guessed by what soon happened to my lord.

No garrison or watch was put into Castlewood when my lord came back, but a
guard was in the village; and one or other of them was always on the Green
keeping a look-out on our great gate, and those who went out and in.
Lockwood said that at night especially every person who came in or went
out was watched by the outlying sentries. 'Twas lucky that we had a gate
which their worships knew nothing about. My lord and Father Holt must have
made constant journeys at night: once or twice little Harry acted as their
messenger and discreet little aide de camp. He remembers he was bidden to
go into the village with his fishing-rod, enter certain houses, ask for a
drink of water, and tell the good man, "There would be a horse-market at
Newbury next Thursday," and so carry the same message on to the next house
on his list.

He did not know what the message meant at the time, nor what was
happening: which may as well, however, for clearness' sake, be explained
here. The Prince of Orange being gone to Ireland, where the king was ready
to meet him with a great army, it was determined that a great rising of
his Majesty's party should take place in this country: and my lord was to
head the force in our county. Of late he had taken a greater lead in
affairs than before, having the indefatigable Mr. Holt at his elbow, and
my lady viscountess strongly urging him on; and my Lord Sark being in the
Tower a prisoner, and Sir Wilmot Crawley, of Queen'