The Tavern Knight | Page 9

he found in them, and these he tossed carelessly on the bed.
Next he assisted the Irishman to struggle into the stolen coat.

"May the Lord forgive my sins," groaned Hogan, as he felt the cloth
straining upon his back and cramping his limbs. "May He forgive me,
and see me safely out of Penrith and into Cromwell's camp, and never
again will I resent the resentment of a clown whose sweetheart I have
made too free with."
"Pluck that feather from your hat," said Crispin.
Hogan obeyed him with a sigh.
"Truly it is written in Scripture that man in his time plays many parts.
Who would have thought to see Harry Hogan playing the Puritan?"
"Unless you improve your acquaintance with Scripture you are not like
to play it long," laughed Crispin, as he surveyed him. "There, man,
you'll do well enough. Your coat is somewhat tight in the back,
somewhat short in the skirt; but neither so tight nor so short but that it
may be preferred to a winding-sheet, and that is the alternative, Harry."
Hogan replied by roundly cursing the coat and his own lucklessness.
That done - and in no measured terms - he pronounced himself ready to
set out, whereupon Crispin led the way below once more, and out into a
hut that did service as a stable.
By the light of a lanthorn he saddled one of the two nags that stood
there, and led it into the yard. Opening the door that abutted on to a
field beyond, he bade Hogan mount. He held his stirrup for him, and
cutting short the Irishman's voluble expressions of gratitude, he gave
him "God speed," and urged him to use all dispatch in setting as great a
distance as possible betwixt himself and Penrith before the dawn.
CHAPTER III
THE LETTER
It was with a countenance sadly dejected that Crispin returned to his
chamber and sate himself wearily upon the bed. With elbows on his
knees and chin in his palms he stared straight before him, the usual

steely brightness of his grey eyes dulled by the despondency that sat
upon his face and drew deep furrows down his fine brow.
With a sigh he rose at last and idly fingered the papers he had taken
from the pocket of Kenneth's coat. As he did so his glance was arrested
by the signature at the foot of one. "Gregory Ashburn" was the name he
read.
Ashen grew his cheeks as his eyes fastened upon that name, whilst the
hand, to which no peril ever brought a tremor, shook now like an aspen.
Feverishly he spread the letter on his knee, and with a glance, from dull
that it had been, grown of a sudden fierce and cruel, he read the
contents.

DEAR KENNETH,
Again I write in the hope that I may prevail upon you to quit Scotland
and your attachment to a king, whose fortunes prosper not, nor can
prosper. Cynthia is pining, and if you tarry longer from Castle Marleigh
she must perforce think you but a laggard lover. Than this I have no
more powerful argument wherewith to draw you from Perth to
Sheringham, but this I think should prevail where others have failed me.
We await you then, and whilst we wait we daily drink your health.
Cynthia commends herself to your memory as doth my brother, and
soon we hope to welcome you at Castle Marleigh. Believe, my dear
Kenneth, that whilst I am, I am yours in affection.
GREGORY ASHBURN
Twice Crispin read the letter through. Then with set teeth and straining
eyes he sat lost in thought.
Here indeed was a strange chance! This boy whom he had met at Perth,
and enrolled in his company, was a friend of Ashburn's - the lover of
Cynthia. Who might this Cynthia be?
Long and deep were his ponderings upon the unfathomable ways of

Fate - for Fate he now believed was here at work to help him, revealing
herself by means of this sign even at the very moment when he decried
his luck. In memory he reviewed his meeting with the lad in the yard of
Perth Castle a fortnight ago. Something in the boy's bearing, in his air,
had caught Crispin's eye. He had looked him over, then approached,
and bluntly asked his name and on what business he was come there.
The youth had answered him civilly enough that he was Kenneth
Stewart of Bailienochy, and that he was come to offer his sword to the
King. Thereupon he had interested himself in the lad's behalf and had
gained him a lieutenancy in his own company. Why he was attracted to
a youth on whom never before had he set eyes was a matter that
puzzled him