"and I'll consult you in
everything, but--but--"

"Yes, my boy, speak out."

"I don't want to hurt your feelings, dear, and yet if I speak of a sword
or a gun--"

Lady Royland shivered slightly, but she drew a long, deep breath, and
raised herself up proudly.

"Roy," she said, "that was in times of peace, before this terrible
emergency had arisen. As a woman, I shrink from bloodshed and
everything that suggests it. It has been my constant dread that you, my
boy, should follow your father's profession. `My boy a soldier!' I
said, as I lay sleepless of a night, and I felt that I could not bear
the thought. But Heaven's will be done, my son. The time has come when
my weak, womanly fears must be crushed down, and I must fulfil my duty
as your dear father's wife. We cannot question his wisdom. A terrible
crisis has come upon our land, and we must protect ourselves and those
who will look to us for help. Then, too, your father calls upon us to
try to save his estate here from pillage and the ruthless wrecking of
wicked men. Roy, my boy, I hope I shall not be such a weak woman now,
but your help and strengthener, as you will be mine. You will not hurt
my feelings, dear, in what you do. You see," she continued, smiling, as
she laid her hand upon the hilt of the sword the lad had so hastily
buckled on, "I do not wince and shudder now. Fate has decided upon your
career, Roy, young as you are, and I know that my son's sword, like his
father's, will never be drawn unless it is to protect the weak and
maintain the right."

"Never, mother," cried the boy, enthusiastically; and as Lady Royland
tried to raise him, he sprang to his feet. "Oh," he cried, "I wish I
were not such a boy!"

"I do not," said his mother, smiling. "You are young, and I am only a
woman, but our cause will make us strong, Roy. There," she continued,
embracing him lovingly, "the time has come to act. You will consult
with Martlet what to do about the defences at once, while I write back
to your father. When do you think the men will be fit to go back?"

"They'd go to-night, mother; they seem to be just the fellows; but their
horses want two or three days' rest."

"Roy!"

"Yes, mother. It's a long journey, and they'll have to go by
out-of-the-way roads to avoid attack."

"But we have horses."

"Yes, mother, but they would sooner trust their own."

Lady Royland bowed her head.

"The letters must go back by them," she said, "and t