'Yes, my dear mistress, we have got clean away from that gloomy Hall, with its half-wild dependents, who would like to have torn us to pieces I verily believe, and it's a comfort to think that our Sir Hubert gave that wicked Sir Claudius a mark to remember him by that will last all his lifetime----' 'What? What was that?' I asked feebly. For, though conscious now, I was feeling very weak, and the litter in which I lay swayed as it was being borne over bumpy, uneven roads. 'He cut off his left hand with one blow of his sword,' cried my woman exultingly, 'so that hand will never do any more mischief, mistress!' 'Poor wretch!' exclaimed I, shuddering. 'Poor, do you call him? It is not a vile enough word. Why, mistress, it was with that hand he boxed the ear of that poor lad who spoke to you in the chapel, thereby probably making him deaf for life.' 'Oh, I hope not! Poor Saul!' 'I have known of hard blows on the ear like that making people deaf for life,' continued Betsy volubly, 'and it is a cruel shame to give them.' 'Indeed it is! Oh! Betsy, how glad I am that I have escaped from the power of that man!' And I thanked God in my heart for my safe deliverance. 'I am deeply thankful, mistress,' and the tears came into Betsy's eyes, for she had a warm heart, full of affection for me and my brothers, having been our nurse for years before she became my maid. 'Where are we now, Betsy?' I asked presently, after trying in vain to piece together the disjointed fragments of events of which I had been conscious since the interrupted wedding in the chapel at Crossley Hall. 'On the high road to Brighthelmstone. Travelling as fast as we can towards our dear home!' cried Betsy delightedly. 'We have had enough of the great world, you and I, mistress, to last us all our lives. When Sir Hubert came hastily into Sion House that day you disappeared, declaring you had been kidnapped, and demanded a litter, horses and men, aye, and me also to ride inside and nurse you if you were ill--that he might go after you--Lady Jane saw him herself, and promised everything he asked. Then she added that she was herself expecting hourly to be sent for to the Tower. "It is not likely," she said, "that my cousin, Queen Mary, will suffer me to be at large, when my freedom might, any day, cause danger to herself; therefore if you succeed, as I trust you will, in rescuing my dear Margery, I pray you take her to her father's house, where she will be safer than either here at Sion House, or with me in the Tower. For my own sake," she said, "I would fain have her near me, but for hers I wish her down at Brighthelmstone with her own people."' 'Did Lady Jane say that?' 'Yes, mistress; I remember every word, and Sir Hubert agreed that he would take you to your home. He is therefore doing so.' 'Where is he?' I asked quickly. 'He is riding on before our litter, to see if the road is clear and safe.' 'I would fain speak with him.'