‘Trick?’ cried the attorney.

‘Ay, trick, man.  But before I send for the constable—­’

‘The constable?’ shrieked Mr. Fishwick.  Truth to tell, it had been his own idea to storm the splendours of the Castle Inn; and for certain reasons he had carried it in the teeth of his companions’ remonstrances.  Now between the suddenness of the onslaught made on them, the strangeness of the surroundings, Sir George’s inopportune arrival, and the scornful grins of the servants who thronged the doorway, he was cowed.  For a moment his wonted sharpness deserted him; he faltered and changed colour.  ‘I don’t know what you mean,’ he said.  ’I gave—­I gave the name of Soane; and you—­you assigned me the rooms.  I thought it particularly civil, sir, and was even troubled about the expense—­’

‘Is your name Soane?’ Mr. Smith asked with blunt-ness; he grew more suspicious as the other’s embarrassment increased.

‘No,’ Mr. Fishwick admitted reluctantly.  ‘But this young lady’s name—­’

‘Is Soane?’

‘Yes.’

Mr. Thomasson stepped forward, grim as fate.  ‘That is not true,’ he said coldly.  ’I am a Fellow of Pembroke College, Oxford, at present in attendance on her ladyship; and I identify this person’—­he pointed to the girl—­’as the daughter of a late servant of the College, and this woman as her mother.  I have no doubt that the last thing they expected to find in this place was one who knew them.’

The landlord nodded.  ‘Joe,’ he said, turning to a servant, ’fetch the constable.  You will find him at the Falcon.’

‘That is talking!’ cried my lady, clapping her hands gleefully.  ’That is talking!’ And then addressing the girl, ‘Now, madam,’ she said, ’I’ll have your pride pulled down!  If I don’t have you in the stocks for this, tease my back!’

There was a snigger at that, in the background, by the door; and a crush to get in and see how the rogues took their exposure; for my lady’s shrill voice could be heard in the hall, and half the inn was running to listen.  Mrs. Masterson, who had collapsed at the mention of the constable, and could now do nothing but moan and weep, and the attorney, who spluttered vain threats in a voice quavering between fear and passion evoked little sympathy.  But the girl, who through all remained silent, white, and defiant, who faced all, the fingers of one hand drumming on the table before her, and her fine eyes brooding scornfully on the crowd, drew from more than one the compliment of a quicker breath and a choking throat.  She was the handsomest piece they had seen, they muttered, for many a day—­as alien, from the other two as light from darkness; and it is not in man’s nature to see beauty humiliated, and feel no unpleasant emotion.  If there was to be a scene, and she did not go quietly—­in that case more than one in the front rank, who read the pride in her eyes, wished he were elsewhere.

Suddenly the crowd about the door heaved.  It opened slowly, and a voice, airy and indifferent, was heard remarking, ’Ah!  These are the people, are they?  Poor devils!  ’Then a pause; and then, in a tone of unmistakable surprise, ‘Hallo!’ the newcomer cried as he emerged and stared at the scene before him.  ‘What is this?’