"Giles," he said. "Sir," said Giles, pulling his forelock. "I am the captain of this castle." "Not a doubt of it, sir." Dick smiled, and walked, head in air, across the floor. Giles watched him. "If your honour will go and change your clothes, which are too wet to be healthy, I will prepare dinner," he said respectfully. A clammy, clinging feeling about the legs and back moved Dick to acquiescence. He ran out, first being graciously pleased to remark that he was hungry. Giles followed him thoughtfully across the court and into the kitchen. During dinner, which Dick insisted upon Giles sharing with him, he explained that he had decided that Giles must be promoted from the stables to be his lieutenant, especially as there were no horses in the stables to mind. Giles thanked him with becoming gratitude. Then Dick held forth upon the grand position they were in, the solemnity of their trust, and the wicked desertion of Captain John Dent. "He said he had no orders to hold the place," Dick said, "and we couldn't without him. His orders were to rejoin his regiment. He frightened the men-servants with something or other, and they ran away. No one cared but me." "What did he mean to do with you, I wonder?" said Giles. "Take me with him and put me to school, he said," and Dick shrugged his shoulders. Defending a castle is better than school, and an enemy not yet arrived is pleasanter in contemplation than a cousin's harsh words and heavy whip. "Is the flag up, Giles?" he questioned restlessly. And, seeing that it was, he set off to visit the walls and defences, as he said. Later in the afternoon he came out on the leads by the flagstaff, and found Giles there looking out over the land. Giles was a tall young man, but he stooped somewhat. His dark hair was not cropped like the Puritans', nor long and waving like the Cavaliers'. It fell over his brow and straggled over his shoulders untidily. He wore a long beard and moustache, and his skin was tanned and browned by sun and wind. He was thin, but seemed stronger and more active than he looked. His clothes were an indescribable tangle of rags. Yet, withal, he looked clean, and Dick remembered seeing him undergoing very prolonged morning ablutions at the pump in the yard. His eyes were particularly nice, large and rather sad, but very friendly and kind. Dick sat down by him on the leads. He was tired, and a little disappointed that the enemy had not arrived yet and given him an opportunity for importance. "Giles," he said, "have you always been a groom?" "No, sir," said Giles, smiling. "What have you been?" "Everything, I fancy, except a thief; and then, again, nothing, except a fool." Dick was puzzled. "What were you doing on the road when Cousin John picked you up? Where had you been?" "I had just come from France," said Giles. Dick stared. "Well--" he said. "I was in France, and my master sent for me to come to England." "I see. Your master was in England?"