that the gentleman was gone; and
never revealing that he had been an eye-witness of the unpleasant scene
in the orchard that was the immediate cause of the departure.

Nothing occurred in Hintock during the week that followed, beyond the
fitful arrival of more decided tidings concerning the utter defeat of the
Duke's army and his own disappearance at an early stage of the battle.
Then it was told that Monmouth was taken, not in his own clothes but in
the disguise of a countryman. He had been sent to London, and was
confined in the Tower.

The possibility that his guest had been no other than the Duke made
Swetman unspeakably sorry now; his heart smote him at the thought that,
acting so harshly for such a small breach of good faith, he might have
been the means of forwarding the unhappy fugitive's capture. On the
girls coming up to him he said, 'Get away with ye, wenches: I fear you
have been the ruin of an unfortunate man!'

On the Tuesday night following, when the yeoman was sleeping as usual in
his chamber, he was, he said, conscious of the entry of some one. Opening
his eyes, he beheld by the light of the moon, which shone upon the front
of his house, the figure of a man who seemed to be the stranger moving
from the door towards the closet. He was dressed somewhat differently
now, but the face was quite that of his late guest in its tragical
pensiveness, as was also the tallness of his figure. He neared the
closet; and, feeling his visitor to be within his rights, Christopher
refrained from stirring. The personage turned his large haggard eyes
upon the bed where Swetman lay, and then withdrew from their hiding the
articles that belonged to him, again giving a hard gaze at Christopher as
he went noiselessly out of the chamber with his properties on his arm.
His retreat down the stairs was just audible, and also his departure by
the side door, through which entrance or exit was easy to those who knew
the place.

Nothing further happened, and towards morning Swetman slept. To avoid
all risk he said not a word to the girls of the visit of the night, and
certainly not to any one outside the house; for it was dangerous at that
time to avow anything.

Among the killed in opposing the recent rising had been a younger brother
of the lord of the manor, who lived at King's-Hintock Court hard by.
Seeing the latter ride past in mourning clothes next day, Swetman
ventured to condole with him.

'He'd no business there