Susanna would have asked him what special news had reached the town that day, but the sound of approaching feet outside warned her of the return of her father with the friends he was bringing to supper.  She flew to the kitchen for the first relay of dishes, and Hannah left her to dish them up, whilst she went to meet the guests.

Jack and the maidservant assisted Susanna at the stove, and a few minutes passed before they entered the supper room, where the company had assembled.  When they did so, the girl was surprised to note that her mother was standing between two tall strangers, one of whom had his arm about her, and that she was weeping silently yet bitterly.

Susanna put down her dishes on the table and crept to her father’s side.

“What is the matter?” she asked timidly.

“Matter enough to bring tears to all our eyes—­ay, tears of blood!” answered Ashley sternly.  “These two men are your mother’s brothers, who arrived today—­just a short while back—­as I hoped with pleasant tidings.  Now have we learned a different tale.  Their old father and Charles’s wife and children have been brutally murdered by Indians, and he himself escaped as by a miracle.  We have been telling the tale to the Assembly this very afternoon.  Ah, it would have moved hearts of stone to hear Charles’s words!  I pray Heaven that something may soon be done.  It is fearful to think of the sufferings which our inaction is causing to our settlers in the west!”

“It is a shame—­a disgrace!” exclaimed Jack hotly, and then he turned his glance upon the two other men who were seated at the table, taking in the whole scene in silence.

Both wore the look of travellers; both were tanned by exposure, and were clad in stained and curious garments, such as betokened the life of the wilderness.  Jack was instantly and keenly interested.  He himself would willingly have been a backwoodsman had he been able to adopt that adventurous life.

Ashley saw the look he bent upon the travellers, and he made them known to one another.

“These friends have travelled far from the lands of the south, and have been friends in need to our kinsmen yonder.  Fritz Neville and Julian Dautray are their names.

“Susanna, set food before them.  Your mother will not be able to think of aught just now.  We must let her have her cry out before we trouble her.”

The rest of the party seated themselves, whilst in the recess by the window Hannah stood between the brothers she had parted from ten years ago, listening to their tale, and weeping as she listened.

Ashley turned to his two guests, who were eating with appetite from the well-filled platters placed before them, and he began to speak as though taking up a theme which had lately been dropped.