On the bridge, as they had been riding out of Bridgewater, they had met a vanguard of fugitives from the field of battle, weary, broken men, many of them wounded, all of them terror-stricken, staggering in speedless haste with the last remnants of their strength into the shelter which it was their vain illusion the town would afford them.  Eyes glazed with lassitude and fear looked up piteously out of haggard faces at Mr. Blood and his companion as they rode forth; hoarse voices cried a warning that merciless pursuit was not far behind.  Undeterred, however, young Pitt rode amain along the dusty road by which these poor fugitives from that swift rout on Sedgemoor came flocking in ever-increasing numbers.  Presently he swung aside, and quitting the road took to a pathway that crossed the dewy meadowlands.  Even here they met odd groups of these human derelicts, who were scattering in all directions, looking fearfully behind them as they came through the long grass, expecting at every moment to see the red coats of the dragoons.

But as Pitt’s direction was a southward one, bringing them ever nearer to Feversham’s headquarters, they were presently clear of that human flotsam and jetsam of the battle, and riding through the peaceful orchards heavy with the ripening fruit that was soon to make its annual yield of cider.

At last they alighted on the kidney stones of the courtyard, and Baynes, the master, of the homestead, grave of countenance and flustered of manner, gave them welcome.

In the spacious, stone-flagged hall, the doctor found Lord Gildoy — a very tall and dark young gentleman, prominent of chin and nose
 — stretched on a cane day-bed under one of the tall mullioned windows, in the care of Mrs. Baynes and her comely daughter.  His cheeks were leaden-hued, his eyes closed, and from his blue lips came with each laboured breath a faint, moaning noise.

Mr. Blood stood for a moment silently considering his patient.  He deplored that a youth with such bright hopes in life as Lord Gildoy’s should have risked all, perhaps existence itself, to forward the ambition of a worthless adventurer.  Because he had liked and honoured this brave lad he paid his case the tribute of a sigh.  Then he knelt to his task, ripped away doublet and underwear to lay bare his lordship’s mangled side, and called for water and linen and what else he needed for his work.

He was still intent upon it a half-hour later when the dragoons invaded the homestead.  The clatter of hooves and hoarse shouts that heralded their approach disturbed him not at all.  For one thing, he was not easily disturbed; for another, his task absorbed him.  But his lordship, who had now recovered consciousness, showed considerable alarm, and the battle-stained Jeremy Pitt sped to cover in a clothes-press.  Baynes was uneasy, and his wife and daughter trembled.  Mr. Blood reassured them.

“Why, what’s to fear?” he said.  “It’s a Christian country, this, and Christian men do not make war upon the wounded, nor upon those who harbour them.”  He still had, you see, illusions about Christians.  He held a glass of cordial, prepared under his directions, to his lordship’s lips.  “Give your mind peace, my lord.  The worst is done.”