"Cousin Dorothy," he said quickly, "if you will go, I will soon answer these gentlemen's questions." "I will not trust you alone with them, my dear," she said. "As you please," said John Dent, with a slight smile, seating himself. "Now, Richard, speak the truth, and don't lie to us as you did to the Royalists at Lumley. Who was with you at Dent?" "Giles," answered the boy. "The stableman you helped on the road, and who knew you were a traitor." "Who else?" "No one." "I warned you, boy," said John Dent. "We are no more to be imposed on than the King's people. Who else?" "No one," said Dick. "You hear, Captain Strong?" said Dent to the other officer. "'Tis a lie," said the other. "We should not have sat outside Dent fearing to attack a child and a groom. 'Twas a gentleman spoke to me and to our general, though he masqueraded in your stableman's rags. They would not have held Dent without a garrison--don't you tell me. Go to!" "You see, Richard? Captain Strong was at Dent. He knows what he speaks of." "Ay!" cried the captain. "Why they made a sortie and carried in a trooper. Think you, with the drawbridge down, they'd have left the place in charge of a child?" "No doubt one of their leaders masqueraded in Giles's rags. Now, sir! once again, who?" asked Dent. "There was no one but Giles and me," said Dick stoutly. "Richard, I warn you once more to tell the truth." "I am telling it. There was only Giles and me." "A lie! A lie!" Strong affirmed angrily. "'Twould be to our lasting disgrace if a stable-helper and a baby kept us out of Dent. Or 'twill be to yours, Colonel Dent. For we went thither by your arrangement." He cast a curious glance at his companion. Suspicion will attach to the man who leaves one party for another, be he never so zealous. "It is to your lasting disgrace, then," said Dick hotly. "'Tis you that are lying." "Were you a few years older you should hang, sir, if it's the truth!" growled Strong. John Dent looked across at her ladyship and saw her move uneasily. "As it is," Strong continued, "you shall be flogged. I swear you shall--whether it's truth or lie." "You will not lay a finger on my cousin, sir," said her ladyship haughtily. "And you, sir, who command here--" "My name is Dent, madam." "Oh, I have no concern with your name, sir!" "Your Ladyship once listened when I offered to bestow it upon you." "I thank God I escaped the disgrace, sir!" she replied. "I must beg you to be silent, madam," he said, flushing, "or I must compel you to leave the room. I was about to ask Captain Strong why age should be a bar. If Richard Chester is old enough, or thinks himself old enough, to hold a castle, and flout a general, he is old enough to die." Lady Dorothy could contain herself no longer. "A truce, sir, to such mummery!" she cried. "Do you think to scare Dick into a falsehood by such a threat?"