it! And there we heard the noise
at a distance--the cries, your ladyship--and the shutter would not go
up! And Miss Miskin ran out, and so did I--"

"Did you really? Well, I must say I admire your courage, Mrs Howell."

"Oh, your ladyship, in a moment of desperation, you know... If anybody
had seen Miss Miskin's face, I'm sure, as she tugged at the shutter--it
was as red... really scarlet!"

"And I'm sure so was yours, Mrs Howell, downright crimson."

"And after all," resumed Mrs Howell, "we should never have got the
shutter up, if Mr Tucker had not had the politeness to come and help
us. But we are talking all this time, and perhaps your ladyship may be
almost fainting with the fright. Would not your ladyship step into my
parlour, and have a little drop of something? Let me have the honour--a
glass of mulled port wine, or a drop of cherry-bounce. Miss Miskin--you
will oblige us--the cherry-bounce, you know."

Miss Miskin received the keys from the girdle with a smile of readiness;
but Lady Hunter declined refreshment. She explained that she felt more
collected than she might otherwise have done, from her not having been
taken by surprise. She had been partly aware, before she left the Hall,
of what she should have to encounter.

"Dear heart! what courage!"

"Goodness! how brave!"

"I could not be satisfied to remain safe at the Hall, you know, when I
did not know what might be happening to Sir William; so I ordered the
carriage, and came. It was a very anxious ride, I assure you, Mrs
Howell. But I found, when I got here, that I need not have been under
any alarm for Sir William. He has made himself so beloved, that I
believe we have nothing to fear for him under any circumstances. But
what can we think, Mrs Howell, of those who try to create such danger?"

"What, indeed, ma'am! Any one, I'm sure, who would so much as dream of
hurting a hair of Sir William's head... As I said to Miss Miskin, when
Mr Tucker told us Sir William was come among them--`that's the
criterion,' said I."

"As it happens, Sir William is in no danger, I believe; but no thanks to
those who are at the bottom of this disturbance. It is no merit of
theirs that Sir William is so popular."

"No, indeed, your ladyship. We may thank Heaven for that, not them.
But what _is_ to be done, your ladyship? I declare it is not safe to go
on in this way. It makes one think of being burnt in one's bed." And
all the three shuddered