All emphatic, though not all sincere; for the loudest of them came from the lips of a man who least meant what he said. Even then, Colonel Langrish was contemplating the treason he afterwards perpetrated. No one present so quietly declared himself as Sir Richard Walwyn. A man more of deeds than words, such pompous proclamation was averse to his nature, and pompous, so far as regarded Fiennes, it afterwards proved. For the enemy _did_ enter Bristol, not over his dead body, nor even fiercely fighting with him, but by surrender, facile, and so much like being criminal, that the lawyer-soldier was himself cast into prison, not by foes, but those hitherto his friends; afterwards tried for his life, and let off as the son of Lord Saye and Sele, though without leave to play at soldiering any more. But we anticipate. Returning to the conference in the Castle, it had well-nigh reached conclusion, when the usher in charge of the door entered to announce a party seeking audience of the Governor, to whom alone the communication was made. "Who are they?" demanded Fiennes. "I don't know, your Excellency. They're still outside the gate. The guard-corporal brought the message--he's at the door." "Bring him in!" The abrupt order was with promptness executed; and in twenty seconds after, the corporal of the castle guard stood before the Governor, saluting in military style. "Who are these wishing to speak with me?" asked the latter. "I only know one of them, your Excellency," returned the corporal. "That's Sergeant Wilde, of the Forest of Dean troop--Sir Richard Walwyn's. The other two are a short man and a tall woman--very tall she is. The man has a wooden leg." "If I'm not mistaken, Colonel Fiennes," interposed Sir Richard, who, standing by, overheard what the corporal had said, "I know all the party. And as my sergeant, Wilde, appears to be one of them, I'll answer for the honesty of their purpose in seeking an interview with you, whatever it be." "Let them be brought in?" commanded the Governor--"all three." At which the guard-corporal, once more saluting, made "about face," and with the usher disappeared from the room. "Who are they, Sir Richard?" asked the Governor, as the door was again closed. "By the description," answered the knight, "I identify the short man and the very tall woman as cadgers, who follow their humble calling around the Forest of Dean; despite the reversed proportions in stature, being brother and sister." "But what, think you, can they be wanting with me?" "That I can't say, your Excellency. Though likely something of grave concern, or Rob Wilde wouldn't be with them as their introducer. He isn't the man to intrude, without serious purpose."