‘Selfish, Jasp! and you, miss—if you are going to enter the family, you should begin to consider other members than Jasper,’ continued the boy. All his usual mockery was gone from his voice, which expressed alarm and anxiety. ‘There lies poor Martin in a stone box, on a little straw, without a mouthful, and his keepers are given what they like!’ ‘Oh, Jasper!’ said Barbara with a start, ‘I am so ashamed of myself. I forgot to provide for him.’ ‘You have not considered, I presume, what will become of poor Martin. In self-defence he shot at a warder, and whether he wounded or killed him I cannot say. Poor Martin! Seven years will be spread into fourteen, perhaps twenty-one. What will he be when he comes out of prison! What shall I do all these years without him!’ ‘Walter,’ said Jasper, going to the window, and speaking in a subdued voice, ‘what can be done? I am sorry enough for him, but I can do nothing.’ ‘Oh, you will not try.’ ‘Tell me, what can I do?’ ‘There! let _her_,’ he pointed to Barbara, ‘let her come over here and speak with me. Everything now depends on her.’ ‘On me!’ exclaimed Barbara. ‘Ah, on you. But do not shout. I can hear if you whisper. Miss, that poor fellow in the stone box is Jasper’s brother. If you care at all for Jasper, you will not interfere. I do not ask you to move a finger to help Martin: I ask you only not to stand in others’ way.’ ‘What do you mean?’ ‘Go into the hall, you and Jasper, instead of standing sighing and billing here. Allow me to be there also. There are two more men arrived—two of those who carried the winged snipe away. That makes four inside and one outside; but one is lamed and without his boot. Feed them all well. Don’t spare cider; and give them spirits-and-water. Help to amuse them.’ ‘For what end?’ ‘That is no concern of yours. For what end! Hospitality, the most ancient of virtues. Above all, do not interfere with the other one.’ ‘What other one?’ ‘You know—Miss Eve,’ whispered the boy. ‘Let the maidens in, the housemaid certainly; she has a sweetheart among them, and the others will make pickings.’ Then, without waiting for an answer, the queer boy ran along the gravel path and leaped the dwarf wall into the stable yard, which lay at a lower level. ‘What does he mean?’ asked Barbara. ‘He means,’ said Jasper, ‘that he is going to make an attempt to get poor Martin off.’ ‘But how can he?’ ‘That I do not know.’ ‘And whether we ought to assist in such a venture I do not know,’ said Barbara thoughtfully. ‘Nor do I,’ said Jasper; ‘my heart says one thing, my head the other.’ ‘We will follow our hearts,’ said Barbara vehemently, and caught his hands and pressed them. ‘Jasper, he is your brother; with me that is a chief consideration. Come into the hall; we will give the men some music.’