A cutting east wind lay in wait for them as they came out from the shelter of the buildings, a wind that tore at Audrey's cloak, and wrestled with the black furze bushes on the heath, till they heaved and swayed like chained monsters striving to break loose. In spite of herself, Audrey felt her courage flag. So much of it was merely due to her natural buoyancy of health and spirits, and the sauciness of a petted girl who had seldom known reproof. Now that she had taken such a rash step, she began to doubt and fear. Her defiance had not drawn off the enemy's forces. Had it been of any advantage at all? Was she riding to prison for a mere fancy? Why should she scruple to tell a white lie for once? But the lie would only secure her own freedom; the constables would still hunt the country for Harrison, while now, she at least divided their numbers and their suspicions. But suppose Richard was so mad as to wait for news of her! Suppose he thought it cowardly to fly and leave her in the lurch! Suppose he fell into another of those despairing fits and threw himself into peril out of mere recklessness? "Ah me!" she sighed, "I know not how to order my own life, and here I have a brother as well as a father to think for too!" It was not an outburst of vanity; she had so long tended her grandfather, and her father, that the only attitude she could conceive to a new friend, was that of adopting him as some one else to be taken care of. Even while she trusted to his strong right hand to be her guard on her journey, she could not believe he could plan that journey without her help. The sandy road across the heath was hard with frost, and the little party trotted swiftly on, and before an hour was past, the lights of Hunstanton twinkled before them. At Justice Tomkins' door there was a halt, and the clerk dismounted, and went to seek his employer's instructions; he came back in a few minutes with a perturbed face, and called the constable into the hall to a consultation. Tom Abbes' sturdy voice was audible to Audrey, as she sat outside. "If so be as his worship won't be disturbed, 'tis no fault of ourn. And us can't put she in the lock-up; all the country would cry shame on us," grumbled the good-natured constable. "If only I had seen the justice before he dined, and had taken his instructions!" sighed the clerk. "See now, take her over to the Royal Oak; thee canst doo no wrong that way," councilled Tom. "If justice won't attend to business, why, justice must pay the bill."