"Bridgewater! As dead and drear a hole as ever man was quartered in. Praise be to the devil we’re moving on to Wells, and in a month we’ll be quit o’ this cursed west country, where there is neither a pretty woman—saving your presence, madame—nor a decent bottle of wine for a man to solace himself withal. I thought you were at Taunton, Protheroe!" "I was—till yesterday. Is there no news from your way?" "By-the-way, Protheroe!" he exclaimed with a sudden burst of laughter, setting down his glass and slapping his knee. "How could I have forgot it! I’ faith there is news, news o’ the queerest, and you are the very man it concerns." "Ah! What then?" "A fellow came over from Taunton yesterday morning with the wildest tale. Some cock-and-bull story of your arrest, and then later of a prison-breaking, and your disappearance with some woman. But ’twas but a half-drunk trooper, and as I was over in Taunton on Monday and heard nought o’ the matter, I beat the fellow as a slanderer of the King’s service. ’Twas all a lie, I suppose." Captain Protheroe glanced quickly at the speaker. Then he leaned across the table and poured out a fresh glass of wine. "Well, no, not entirely a lie," he answered coolly. "I was arrested, a jest of the colonel’s, some wager with my Lord Jeffreys. I was released in the morning, of course. The prison-breaking is true, too, ’twas the same night. But a tale grows like a mushroom in the telling. Heard any news from town?" "What should I hear in a hole like Bridgewater?" answered Captain Jonas indignantly. Then he turned to Barbara, at whom he had been staring with insulting openness ever since his entrance. "I could swear I have seen your face before, madame, but I can’t for the life of me recollect where. ’Tisn’t a face one forgets soon, neither," he continued, ogling her afresh. "My poor face is honoured by your recollection, sir," answered the girl coolly. "It must be some time ago that we met. Since my escape I have necessarily had little converse with the King’s officers." The man laughed loudly. "I don’t doubt it, madame. Your escape, eh? So you broke prison, did you? Was that long since?" Barbara bit her lip in irritation at her slip. "Some while since, sir. But few words make least mischief, so, an’t please you, I’ll keep my story for the crown lawyers to devise. You can hear it then, an you care to attend my trial." "By Jove, madame, you have courage," laughed the man admiringly. "Come, what is your name?" "That also, sir, ’tis the lawyer’s business to discover," she answered calmly. The soldier laughed once more, and turning to Captain Protheroe, he entered forthwith into a keen discussion as to the merits of the new regiments the King was then raising and the possibility of the formation of a large standing army in the country.