back
here, and take this man into custody, and bear witness that he
refuses to search for the Jacobites in the way I order him.
Constable, I shall want you to take him to town in custody this
night. I will show you my warrant for what I do when we get to the
inn."
The two persons whom he addressed came back instantly at his call;
and when the Messenger rose--considerably crest-fallen from Wilton's
sudden application to measures which he had not expected--he found
himself collared by two strong men, and led along unwillingly upon
the road he had before been treading.
"Do not let him chatter, Captain," Wilton whispered to Captain
Byerly, as he passed on; and then immediately walking forward, he
joined the Duke and the Lady Laura. Byerly, who understood what he
was about, kept the Messenger at some distance behind; but,
nevertheless, some sharp words passing between them reached Wilton's
ear during the first quarter of an hour of their journey; then came a
dogged silence; but at length the voice of Byerly was again heard,
exclaiming, "Mr. Brown, Mr. Arden says, that, if you will overlook
what has passed, he will go back, and do as you order."
"I shall certainly not look over the business," replied Brown, aloud,
"unless he promises not only to obey my orders at present, but also
to make a full apology to me to-morrow."
"He says he will do what you please, sir," replied Byerly; and Wilton
turning back, heard the sullen apologies of the Messenger.
"Mr. Arden," he said, "you have behaved extremely ill, well knowing,
as you do know, that you were placed entirely under my orders.
However, I shall pardon your conduct both upon the first occasion,
and in regard to the present business, if you now do exactly as you
are told. By your running away at the time you ought to have come
forward to assist me, you have lost an opportunity of serving the
state, in a manner which does not occur every day. In regard to the
gentleman who has gone on, and whom you were foolish enough to think
Sir George Barkley, I pledge you my honour that such is not the case.
Sir George Barkley cannot be less than twenty years older than he is,
and may be thirty."
"He's not Captain Churchill, though," replied the man, doggedly.
"Do not begin to speak impertinently again, sir!" said Wilton, in a
sharp tone. "But go back, as I before ordered, with the constable:
you know nothing of who that gentleman is, and my word ought to be
sufficient for you, when I tell you that he has this very nigh