he gasped. "What
for mercy's sake can such a man want with me at this time of night? Did
you ask the man his name?"

"No, ma'am, I--I--didn't," stammered the maid, astonished at her
mistress's unusual agitation, and afraid that in omitting to make the
enquiry she had been guilty of some terrible oversight; "he said--he--"

But at this point George intervened. To him, as to his mother, the
circumstance had at once conveyed a suggestion of ominousness, a hint of
possible evil tidings. Like his mother, he had risen to his feet as the
thought of what this visit might mean dawned upon him. But, unlike Mrs
Saint Leger, he was accustomed to act quickly in the presence of sudden
alarms, and now he laid his hand reassuringly upon his mother's
shoulder, as he said soothingly:

"There, there, sit you down, mother; there's nought to be frightened
about, I'll warrant. Sit you down, again; and I'll go out and speak to
the fellow. Maybe 'tis but some sneaking, snivelling beggar-man who,
believing you to be alone here, hopes to terrify you into giving him a
substantial alms."

So saying, with another reassuring pat upon his mother's shoulder, the
lad stalked out of the room, pushing the bewildered maid before him, and
made his way to the front door, where Mrs Saint Leger, acutely
listening, presently heard him in low converse with the stranger. The
conversation continued for a full ten minutes, and then Mrs Saint
Leger's apprehensions were sharpened by hearing footsteps--her son's and
another's--approaching the room in which she sat. A moment later the
door was flung open, and George, pale beneath his tan, re-appeared,
ushering in a thick-set, broadly-built man of medium height, whose long,
unkempt hair and beard, famine-sharpened features, and ragged clothing
told an unmistakable tale of privation and suffering.

"Mother," said George--and as he spoke his lips quivered slightly in
spite of his utmost efforts to keep them steady--"this man is Robert
Dyer of Cawsand, one of the crew of the _Judith_, Captain Drake's ship,
just arrived from the Indies, and he brings us bad news--not the worst,
thank God," he interjected hurriedly as he noted Mrs Saint Leger's
sudden access of pallor--"but bad enough for all that, and it is
necessary that you should hear it. The expedition has been a failure,
thanks to Spanish treachery; the loss to the English has been terribly
heavy, and several of the men are missing."

For a few moment