losed on Lady Gowan,
"they have us in front, and they have us in the rear. A fox, they say,
always has two holes to the earth. A man is obliged to have a third way
of escape if his enemies are too many for him, and I don't want to fight
with the King's men for other reasons than that they belong to my old
regiment."

"Shall I light the candle again, father?"

"No, it will take too long, and I can do what I want in the dark. I've
a rope here."

Frank heard his father unlock a cabinet, and his heart beat hopefully,
when the next minute his father bade him "take hold," and he felt a
thin, soft coil of rope passed into his hands.

He needed no telling what was to follow, for he grasped the idea at
once, and followed his father out of the room without a word.

They paused on the staircase for a few moments, and heard the shivering
of the glass and the stern summons for the door to be opened; and then
Sir Robert laid his hand upon his son's shoulder.

"Seems cowardly, Frank, to try to escape, and leave a woman to bear the
brunt of the encounter; but I must play the fugitive now. I can't
afford to surrender; the risks are too great. Come on. Your mother
must not be disappointed after what she has done, and have to see me
marched off."

Frank was astounded at his father's coolness, but he said nothing, and
followed him quickly to the top of the house to where there was a
trap-door in the ceiling over the passage leading to one of the attics.

Without telling, Frank bent down and raised the light steps which were
on one side of the passage, passed his arm through the coil of rope,
went up the steps, and pushed open the trap-door, which fell back,
leaving an opening for him to pass through into the false roof.

Sir Robert followed, and a door formed like a dormer window in the slope
of the roof was unbolted ready for him to step out on to the narrow
leads.

"Now, Frank lad, give me the rope," said Sir Robert in a low voice.
"Then follow me along by the parapet. We need not crawl, for it will
hide us from the soldiers if we lean inward and keep one hand on the
sloping slates."

"Yes, I understand," said Frank; "you mean to go along the roofs right
to the end."

"Yes: right."

"And fasten the rope round a chimney stack?"

"That's quite right too; and now listen. I shall not be able to talk to
you out there. As soon as I am down, don't stop to untie the rope; it
will be too tight from my weight. Cut it,