第52章 ANNA,LADY BAXBY(2)

The delay of the besiegers in attacking the Castle was said to be entirely owing to this distraction on the part of their leader,who remained on the spot attempting some indecisive operations,and parleying with the Marquis,then in command,with far inferior forces,within the Castle.It never occurred to him that in the meantime the young Lady Baxby,his sister,was in much the same mood as himself.Her brother's familiar voice and eyes,much worn and fatigued by keeping the field,and by family distractions on account of this unhappy feud,rose upon her vision all the afternoon,and as day waned she grew more and more Parliamentarian in her principles,though the only arguments which had addressed themselves to her were those of family ties.

Her husband,General Lord Baxby,had been expected to return all the day from his excursion into the east of the county,a message having been sent to him informing him of what had happened at home;and in the evening he arrived with reinforcements in unexpected numbers.

Her brother retreated before these to a hill near Ivell,four or five miles off,to afford the men and himself some repose.Lord Baxby duly placed his forces,and there was no longer any immediate danger.By this time Lady Baxby's feelings were more Parliamentarian than ever,and in her fancy the fagged countenance of her brother,beaten back by her husband,seemed to reproach her for heartlessness.When her husband entered her apartment,ruddy and boisterous,and full of hope,she received him but sadly;and upon his casually uttering some slighting words about her brother's withdrawal,which seemed to convey an imputation upon his courage,she resented them,and retorted that he,Lord Baxby himself,had been against the Court-party at first,where it would be much more to his credit if he were at present,and showing her brother's consistency of opinion,instead of supporting the lying policy of the King (as she called it)for the sake of a barren principle of loyalty,which was but an empty expression when a King was not at one with his people.The dissension grew bitter between them,reaching to little less than a hot quarrel,both being quick-tempered souls.

Lord Baxby was weary with his long day's march and other excitements,and soon retired to bed.His lady followed some time after.Her husband slept profoundly,but not so she;she sat brooding by the window-slit,and lifting the curtain looked forth upon the hills without.

In the silence between the footfalls of the sentinels she could hear faint sounds of her brother's camp on the distant hills,where the soldiery had hardly settled as yet into their bivouac since their evening's retreat.The first frosts of autumn had touched the grass,and shrivelled the more delicate leaves of the creepers;and she thought of William sleeping on the chilly ground,under the strain of these hardships.Tears flooded her eyes as she returned to her husband's imputations upon his courage,as if there could be any doubt of Lord William's courage after what he had done in the past days.

Lord Baxby's long and reposeful breathings in his comfortable bed vexed her now,and she came to a determination on an impulse.

Hastily lighting a taper,she wrote on a scrap of paper:

'Blood is thicker than water,dear William--I will come;'and with this in her hand,she went to the door of the room,and out upon the stairs;on second thoughts turning back for a moment,to put on her husband's hat and cloak--not the one he was daily wearing--that if seen in the twilight she might at a casual glance appear as some lad or hanger-on of one of the household women;thus accoutred she descended a flight of circular stairs,at the bottom of which was a door opening upon the terrace towards the west,in the direction of her brother's position.Her object was to slip out without the sentry seeing her,get to the stables,arouse one of the varlets,and send him ahead of her along the highway with the note to warn her brother of her approach,to throw in her lot with his.