is stifling!" cried Kate, as she threw back her
tumbled hair. "I must have air--air! I will open this window; we
can look out such a way from it. O Cherry, think--this big window
looks straight out towards London! Ah, why are not our eyes strong
enough to see our loved ones there!"

Cherry laughed and blushed in the darkness, and Kate's strong hand
undid the bolt and latch and flung the great casement wide. The
cool night air rushed in, and both girls, heated with exercise,
were glad to rest their elbows on the stone mullion and lean out
into the breezy night.

"It is delicious!" cried Kate; "it is the elixir of life!"

Then the girls were silent for a few moments, till they both
started at the same sound.

"That was a gun!" cried Kate suddenly, leaning further out of the
window. "Listen, Cherry! There again--another shot! That can only
mean one thing!"

"What thing?" asked Cherry, growing suddenly pale with excitement
and fear.

"Highwaymen attacking travellers!" answered her companion, standing
straight up, but with her head still inclined in an attitude of
keen attention. "Listen, Cherry, listen! Is it the beating of my
heart, or is that sound the galloping of horses' hoofs upon the
road? Hark! Yes, they grow louder they come this way! Down, Cherry!
We must rush to the gates and have them open and take them in!

"Cherry, listen! Be calm, be quiet! Run thou to old Thomas and to
Dyson and the rest; tell them what we have heard. I must for the
keys. I must have them whether our aunt wills it or no. There be no
place of refuge save this for miles around. Here must they find
shelter from their foes. It is Lady Humbert's will; I must fulfil
it."

All the while Kate spoke she was running swiftly along the boarded
floor, with Cherry keeping pace at her side; and as she dashed down
the staircase she paused for a moment and took from the place where
they hung two matchlocks, which she knew were always kept loaded,
and these she laid quietly down in the hall. Then she opened the
parlour door, and walked boldly forward to the spot where the keys
lay. Possessing herself of these, she said quietly:

"Be not affrighted, Aunt Dowsabel, but there be folks in trouble on
the road. They are pursued by robbers, I fear. I am about to unlock
the gates, that we may draw them into safe shelter here."

Petronella sprang to her feet, and Mistress Dowsabel uttered a
sharp scream of terror.

"Kate, I forbid it--I forbid it!" she