‘Nay. Half the distance is done,’
said Hugh. ’What a hard master you are!
I shall go home the better for one glassful, halfway.
Come!’
As John made no reply, Mr Haredale brought out a glass
of liquor, and gave it to Hugh, who, as he took it
in his hand, threw part of it upon the floor.
’What do you mean by splashing your drink about
a gentleman’s house, sir?’ said John.
‘I’m drinking a toast,’ Hugh rejoined,
holding the glass above his head, and fixing his eyes
on Mr Haredale’s face; ’a toast to this
house and its master.’ With that he muttered
something to himself, and drank the rest, and setting
down the glass, preceded them without another word.
John was a good deal scandalised by this observance,
but seeing that Mr Haredale took little heed of what
Hugh said or did, and that his thoughts were otherwise
employed, he offered no apology, and went in silence
down the stairs, across the walk, and through the garden-gate.
They stopped upon the outer side for Hugh to hold the
light while Mr Haredale locked it on the inner; and
then John saw with wonder (as he often afterwards
related), that he was very pale, and that his face
had changed so much and grown so haggard since their
entrance, that he almost seemed another man.
They were in the open road again, and John Willet
was walking on behind his escort, as he had come,
thinking very steadily of what he had just now seen,
when Hugh drew him suddenly aside, and almost at the
same instant three horsemen swept past—the
nearest brushed his shoulder even then—who,
checking their steeds as suddenly as they could, stood
still, and waited for their coming up.
When John Willet saw that the horsemen wheeled smartly
round, and drew up three abreast in the narrow road,
waiting for him and his man to join them, it occurred
to him with unusual precipitation that they must be
highwaymen; and had Hugh been armed with a blunderbuss,
in place of his stout cudgel, he would certainly have
ordered him to fire it off at a venture, and would,
while the word of command was obeyed, have consulted
his own personal safety in immediate flight. Under
the circumstances of disadvantage, however, in which
he and his guard were placed, he deemed it prudent
to adopt a different style of generalship, and therefore
whispered his attendant to address them in the most
peaceable and courteous terms. By way of acting
up to the spirit and letter of this instruction, Hugh
stepped forward, and flourishing his staff before the
very eyes of the rider nearest to him, demanded roughly
what he and his fellows meant by so nearly galloping
over them, and why they scoured the king’s highway
at that late hour of night.
The man whom he addressed was beginning an angry reply
in the same strain, when he was checked by the horseman
in the centre, who, interposing with an air of authority,
inquired in a somewhat loud but not harsh or unpleasant
voice:
