Horse and man were glad to greet each other. Armstrong examined the animal with care, and was pleased to note that he was none the worse for his long and toilsome journey of the day before. The Scot found himself wondering into what part of the the land he had got. Cumberland he knew, and Northumberland very thoroughly, but this district was strange to him. As a rule he was able to estimate with some exactitude the distance a horse travelled in a day, but the journey with Captain Bent had been over a rough country, in continually changing directions that had ended in bewildering him. High passes had been crossed, and deep valleys traversed with a speed that said much for the mobility of the’ Parliamentary troopers. They had avoided villages, keeping through barren lands, uninhabited for the most part, until they reached the fertile and cultivated region in whose outskirts was situated the estate of Corbiton Manor. The questions he asked of his captors had invariably gone unanswered, either because the men were silent from nature or from command, or because they knew as little of the road as he did. The trend of the present morning’s journey had been southeast, the country becoming more and more populous as he proceeded. Returning to the house, he met Frances Wentworth evidently in search of him. It seemed to him she had been weeping, and there was a perceptible change in the cordiality of her manner toward him. He feared this was perhaps to be accounted for by the admiration of her beauty which his glances might have betrayed, and he resolved to be more careful in future, although it was difficult to repress the exaltation he felt at the prospect of being her companion on a long and possibly dangerous expedition. “Has my brother spoken to you of my visit to Oxford?” she asked. “Yes.” “Are you in great haste?” “Not in the least.” “Would it be as convenient to you to set out tomorrow morning as this afternoon?” “Quite. It would be better, in fact, for my horse had a hard day of it yesterday, travelling I don’t know how many miles. Perhaps you can tell me where I am. I could get no information from my surly gaolers.” “You are in the southern part of Durham, near the Yorkshire border.” “We have come even farther than I thought. A day’s rest will do no harm to the horse, for he little knows what is before him.” The girl seemed at a loss for a reply. “I thank you,” she said at last, somewhat primly, as she turned away. Then, pausing and hesitating a moment, she continued with face half averted, “My brother and I are twins and perhaps the more devoted to each other on that account. I would do anything for him. I wish to stay and see the nurse installed. There are many things to think of at such an unexpected crisis, and no one to think of them but me.”