en happen to
have accompanied him. We bind and gag the Duke, and we convey him with
all speed and quiet out of Bridgwater. Feversham shall send a troop to
await me a mile or so from the town on the road to Weston Zoyland. We
shall join them with our captive, and thus convey him to the Royalist
General. Could aught be simpler or more infallible?"

Richard had slipped from the table. He had changed his mind on the
subject of the importance of the business Blake had in view. Excited by
it, he clapped his friend on the back approvingly.

"A great plan!" he cried. "Is it not, Ruth?"

"It should be the means of saving hundreds, perhaps thousands of lives,"
said she, "and so it deserves to prosper. But what of the officers who
may be with the Duke?" she inquired.

"There are not likely to be many--half a dozen, say. We shall have to
make short work of them, lest they should raise an alarm." He saw her
glance clouding. "That is the ugly part of the affair," he was quick
to add, himself assuming a look of sadness. He sighed. "What help is
there?" he asked. "Better that those few should suffer than that, as you
yourself have said, there should be some thousands of lives lost before
this rebellion is put down. Besides," he continued, "Monmouth's officers
are far-seeing, ambitious men, who have entered into this affair to
promote their own personal fortunes. They are gamesters who have set
their lives upon the board against a great prize, and they know it. But
these other poor misguided people who have gone out to fight for liberty
and religion--it is these whom I am striving to rescue."

His words sounded fervent, his sentiments almost heroic. Ruth looked at
him, and wondered had she misjudged him in the past. She sighed. Then
she thought of Wilding. He was on the other side, but where was he?
Rumour ran that he was dead; that he and Grey had quarrelled at Lyme,
and that Wilding had been killed as a result. Had it not been for Diana,
who strenuously bade her attach no credit to these reports, she would
readily have believed them. As it was she waited, wondering, thinking of
him always as she had seen him on that day at Walford when he had taken
his leave of her, and more than once, when she pondered the words he had
said, the look that had invested his drooping eyes, she found herself
with tears in her own. They welled up now, and she rose hastily to her
feet.

She looked a moment at Blake who was watching her keenly, specul