A trooper came behind and gagged him with the loose end of the rope; and Tybee held the candle to light the knotting of it.  And so they marched him out, with Tybee muttering between his teeth that it was rat-catcher’s work, and no soldier’s, this killing of vermin, and bidding his men make haste.

L

HOW RICHARD COVERDALE’S DEBT WAS PAID

For some breathless moments after we three were left alone in the Stygian darkness of the wine cellar, no word was spoken.  The rolling of the thunder drum was muffled now, as it were booming out the dirge of the man who had digged a pit and had himself fallen therein; and the lightning flashes coming at longer intervals served but to intensify the gloom they lit up for the instant.

It was a minced oath from Richard that first broke the spell that bound us.

“’Twas too much for Madge,” said he, “she has fainted.  Swing the door, and light another candle.”

I did both as quickly as might be, and we bedded her on the floor, stripping our coats to soften the stone flagging for her and trying by all the means known to two unskilled soldier leeches to bring her to.

“Water!” said Dick; but when we had laved her face with that, and with wine as well, without effect, we were well dismayed, I do assure you.  For all our efforts she lay as one dead; and neither of us could be cold enough to pry her lips apart to play the drenching doctor with the wine.

“Lord!” cried Dick, the sweat standing out upon his face in great drops; “this is terrible!  What shall we do?”

“Jeanne will know what to do,” I asserted.  “We must get her out of this and up to her chamber.”

Richard started to his feet and stooped to gather the dear body of her in his arms.  But in the act he paused and straightened himself to look fixedly at me.

“Do you take her, Jack; she is—­she is—­your wife.”

“Nay,” said I, drawing back.  “You are her own true lover; and could she choose her bearer—­”

“A murrain on your finickings!” he burst out.  “She may die whilst we are haggling over the right to help her.  Take her up quick, man, and begone!”

“But bethink you, Dick,” I urged; “if you are taken, you have one chance in ten of faring as an officer and a prisoner of war.  For me ’tis a spy’s death as swift as they can drag me to it.”

Now you will know, my dears, how much I loved these two when I could twist a cord of such mean fiber to bind them closer together.  Richard’s eyes flashed and his lip curled.

“Overlook it in me, if you can,” he said, with fine scorn.  “I had not thought upon the peril of it.”  And with that he took her in his arms as she had been a child to be carried, and I swung the door for him.  But on the threshold he gave me back my sorry little subterfuge.  “Once more, your forgiveness, Jack.  I knew well you were but lying to give me precedence.  Can you trust me with her?”