."

"It is not fair of you, sir," said Roy, speaking very firmly. "This is
no whim on the part of Martlet. Now that we are coming to using the
guns, the men must have a place of shelter beneath the platform, and one
where the powder may lie ready for handing up. We must have your
sleeping-room."

"Take it then," cried the secretary. "I give it up; but spare me my
little sitting-room."

"We want that too," said Roy. "We may have wounded men."

"Then bring them in there, and I'll help to dress their wounds; but I
must keep that."

"Surely you can manage without depriving Master Pawson of that place,
Roy," said Lady Royland.

"Thank you, thank you, Lady Royland.--Yes, you hear that, Roy. You
can--you must--you shall spare me that poor place. It is so small."

"And suppose we have an accident, and the powder bestowed in your
chamber above is blown up?"

"Well, I shall have died doing my duty," said the secretary, with
humility.

"Wouldn't it be doing your duty more to try and avoid danger, so as to
be useful to us all?" said Roy; and his mother's eyes flashed with
pleasure, while the secretary started to hear such utterances from the
mere boy he despised.

"Perhaps so," he said, with a faint laugh; "but really, Roy, you will
not be so hard upon me as to refuse that favour. Do not make me think
that now you are castellan, you are becoming a tyrant."

"There is no fear of my son becoming a tyrant, Master Pawson," said Lady
Royland, smiling, and with something suggesting contempt for the speaker
in her tones.--"Roy, dear, I think you might manage to let the lower
room remain as it is for Master Pawson's use, if the upper floor is
given up to the men. He could have the room next to yours for a
bedchamber."

"Oh, that would not be necessary," said the secretary, eagerly. "The
one room is all I want--it can be my bedchamber too."

"I hardly know what to say, mother," said the boy, gravely.--"Well,
then, Master Pawson, keep your study; but we must have the upper room at
once, and if you are annoyed by the going to and fro of the men on the
staircase, you must not blame me."

"My dear boy," he cried, with effusion, "pray do not think me so
unreasonable. I am most grateful to you, Lady Royland, and to you too,
Roy. I shall never forget this kindness. I will go and see to the new
arrangement at once. Can I have two servants to help to move down the
few things I shall want?"

"You can have two of the