sham
was lodged.

They had come not only at a headlong pace, but in a headlong manner,
without quite considering what awaited them at the end of their ride in
addition to their object of finding Ruth. It was only now, as he drew
rein before the lighted house and caught the sound of Blake's raised
voice pouring through an open window on the ground floor, that Richard
fully realized what manner of rashness he was committing. He was too
late to rescue Ruth from Blake. What more could he look to achieve?
His hope had been that with Wilding's help he might snatch her from Sir
Rowland before the latter reached his destination. But now--to enter
Feversham's presence and in association with so notorious a rebel as Mr.
Wilding were a piece of folly of the heroic kind that Richard did not
savour. Indeed, had it not been for Wilding's masterful presence, it is
more than odds he had turned tail, and ridden home again to bed.

But Wilding, who had leapt nimbly to the ground, stood waiting for
Richard to dismount, impatient now that from the sound of Sir Rowland's
voice he had assurance that Richard had proved an able guide. The young
man got down, but might yet have hesitated had not Wilding caught him
by the arm and whirled him up the steps, through the open door, past
the two soldiers who kept it, and who were too surprised to stay him,
straight into the long, low-ceilinged chamber where Feversham, attended
by a captain of horse, was listening to Blake's angry narrative of that
night's failure.

Mr. Wilding's entrance was decidedly sensational. He stepped quickly
forward, and, taking Blake who was still talking, all unconscious of
those behind him, by the collar of his coat, he interrupted him in the
middle of an impassioned period, wrenched him backwards off his feet,
and dashed him with a force almost incredible into a heap in a corner of
the room. There for some moments the baronet lay half dazed by the shock
of his fall.

A long table, which seemed to divide the chamber in two, stood between
Lord Feversham and his officer and Mr. Wilding and Ruth--by whose side
he had now come to stand in Blake's room.

There was an exclamation, half anger, half amazement, at Mr. Wilding's
outrage upon Sir Rowland, and the captain of horse sprang forward.
But Wilding raised his hand, his face so composed and calm that it was
impossible to think him conceiving any violence, as indeed he protested
at that moment.

"Be assured, gentlemen,