That was her grateful rejoinder, sufficiently gratifying to him who received it, and leading him to further expressions of endearment. Glad was he they had arrived safe; and as to their errand at Bristol, which she cared no longer to keep from him, he forbore further questioning. "Ye can tell me about it when we ha' more time to talk," he said. "But where do you an' Jack 'tend passin' the night?" "The old place us always stop at,--Bird-in-the-Bush Inn." "That be over Avon's bridge?" "Yes; just a street or two the other side." Bristol was no strange place to her. She, Jerky and Jinkum had made many a cadge thither before. "I'd go 'long wi' ye to the Bird-in-the-Bush," said the guard-sergeant, "but, as ye see, I'm on duty at this gate, and musn't leave it for a minnit. If the captain was here--unlucky he isn't just now--he'd let me off, I know--seein' who it be." "Why for seein' that, Rob?" "Because o' his knowin' ye. He ha' seen you and Jack at Hollymead House." "It be Sir Richard?" "No, no," hastily responded the ex-deer-stealer, in turn, perhaps, experiencing a twinge of jealousy as when by the quarry on Cat's Hill. "Sir Richard be in Bristol, too; but he's a colonel, not captain." "Who be the captain, then?" "That young Cavalier gentleman as comed to Hollymead 'long wi' Sir Richard, after fightin' him. He changed sides there, an's now on ours. Ye heerd that, han't you?" "Deed, yes. An' more; heerd why. 'Twas all through a sweet face him seed there--so be the word 'bout Ruardean." "Well; I hope her won't disappoint he, after his doin' that for her. Better nor braver than he an't in this big town o' Bristol. But, Win, dear," he added, changing tone, and slinging an arm round her neck, "'tan't any consarn o' ours. Oh! I be so glad to see ye again." She knew he was now. "Hang it!" he went on, "I only weesh my turn o' guard was over, so's I could go 'long wi' ye. Maybe when the captain come back he'll let me off for a hour or so. Sit up late, if ye ain't too tired. Ye will, won't ye?" "I will; for you all night, Rob. Ay, till the sun o' morning shines clear in the sky." Her passionate and poetic words were succeeded, if not cut short, by a thumping on the pavement. Jerky's wooden leg it was; its owner approaching in the darkness, the rapid repetition of the thumps telling him to be in great haste. "Winny!" he called to her in urgent tone, "us maunt linger here any longer. Ye know somethin' as needs our bein' quick about it." "Yes, yes," she answered, excitedly, as if recalled to a duty she felt guilty of having trifled with or neglected. "I be ready to go on, Jack." The guard-sergeant looked a little puzzled. There was a secret, after all, which had not been confided to him. What could it be? Rough Forester though he had been, bold soldier as he now was, he lacked the courage, or rather the rudeness, to ask. It might be a question unwelcome. Divining his thoughts, the woman said in a whisper,--