‘Ask Old Cumberland,’ observed the ostler; ’you ask Old Cumberland, Miss Nance!’ and he bestowed a wink upon his favoured fair one.

‘Why that?’ asked Jonathan.

‘He had his coat taken—­ay, and his shirt too,’ returned the ostler.

‘Is that so?’ cried Jonathan eagerly.  ‘Was you robbed too?’

‘That was I,’ replied Cumberland, ’with a warrant!  I was a well-to-do man when I was young.’

‘Ay!  See that!’ says Jonathan.  ’And you don’t long for a revenge?’

‘Eh!  Not me!’ answered the beggar.  ’It’s too long ago.  But if you’ll give me another mug of your good ale, my pretty lady, I won’t say no to that.’

‘And shalt have!  And shalt have!’ cried Jonathan.  ’Or brandy even, if you like it better.’

And as Cumberland did like it better, and the ostler chimed in, the party pledged each other in a dram of brandy before separating.

As for Nance, she slipped forth into the ruins, partly to avoid the ostler’s gallantries, partly to lament over the defects of Mr. Archer.  Plainly, he was no hero.  She pitied him; she began to feel a protecting interest mingle with and almost supersede her admiration, and was at the same time disappointed and yet drawn to him.  She was, indeed, conscious of such unshaken fortitude in her own heart, that she was almost tempted by an occasion to be bold for two.  She saw herself, in a brave attitude, shielding her imperfect hero from the world; and she saw, like a piece of heaven, his gratitude for her protection.

CHAPTER V—­LIFE IN THE CASTLE

From that day forth the life of these three persons in the ruin ran very smoothly.  Mr. Archer now sat by the fire with a book, and now passed whole days abroad, returning late, dead weary.  His manner was a mask; but it was half transparent; through the even tenor of his gravity and courtesy profound revolutions of feeling were betrayed, seasons of numb despair, of restlessness, of aching temper.  For days he would say nothing beyond his usual courtesies and solemn compliments; and then, all of a sudden, some fine evening beside the kitchen fire, he would fall into a vein of elegant gossip, tell of strange and interesting events, the secrets of families, brave deeds of war, the miraculous discovery of crime, the visitations of the dead.  Nance and her uncle would sit till the small hours with eyes wide open:  Jonathan applauding the unexpected incidents with many a slap of his big hand; Nance, perhaps, more pleased with the narrator’s eloquence and wise reflections; and then, again, days would follow of abstraction, of listless humming, of frequent apologies and long hours of silence.  Once only, and then after a week of unrelieved melancholy, he went over to the ‘Green Dragon,’ spent the afternoon with the landlord and a bowl of punch, and returned as on the first night, devious in step but courteous and unperturbed of speech.