en he sought out
pen and paper and wrote; a letter to Colonel Fitzdenys, which, though
it was not very long, took him much time to write, and ran as follows:--

"Honoured Col.--these are to inform you that I have the deserter Henry
Bale saf under lock and kay which is all at present from your honour's
most ob't humble serv't.--J. BRIMACOTT."

He put the letter into his pocket, and drawing a mattress before the
door of the loose-box, went fast asleep on it till dawn, when he called
a sleepy stable-boy from the rooms above and bade him ride over with
the letter to Fitzdenys Court.

By eight o'clock Colonel Fitzdenys arrived at a gallop from Fitzdenys
Court. Having seen and questioned the Corporal's prisoner, who made a
full confession, he left a message that he would return as soon as
possible, and that he would want to see Mrs. Fry and Tommy; after which
he rode back again, as fast as he had come, to Kingstoke. There his
business was soon finished, for when the idiot was brought up before
him (which he had already arranged to be done) he was able to discharge
him directly, since he himself had ascertained that the true deserter
had been captured. But none the less he gave the serjeant a guinea to
console him for his disappointment in having caught the wrong man.

Then he went to speak to the idiot's mother and to tell her how sorry
he was for the mistake that had been made; for the two had been locked
up all night in Kingstoke. She did not receive him kindly, however,
for all that she said was: "It's very well to be sorry now, and I don't
say, sir, that it's no fault of yours, but they've agone nigh to kill
my boy with their doings;" and indeed the idiot was so weak and white
that he could hardly stand. Still more distressed was she when Colonel
Fitzdenys told her that she could not go yet, but that she must first
visit Bracefort Hall. She tried hard to obtain his leave to go to her
own place at once, but he insisted, though with all possible kindness,
that she must come with him to the Hall, and that then she should be
free to go where she would. So very reluctantly she got into a
market-cart with her son, who sat like a lifeless thing beside her, and
was driven off, while Colonel Fitzdenys cantered on before them.

When the market-cart reached the door of the Hall, Lady Eleanor was
there waiting to welcome her and to thank her for all that she had done
for her own children; but the woman only said coldly