"You ’ll sleep a good pair of hours without knowing it, the two of you," she grumbled good-naturedly. "Throw off your muddy gear there, and be off out o’ my way, now, an’ I ’ll do the best I can. Take the left-hand chamber at the stairhead; there’s a couple o’ beds. I ’ve two suppers to get before the tide turns to the ebb. The packet folks ’ll soon be coming; an’ those fellows that wait for their mate that’s on a fishing smack,—I may want help with ’em, if they ’re ’s bad ’s they look. Yes, I ’ll call ye, sir, if Mr. Davis comes; but he may be kept, the weather is so bad." Hammet had drunk the brandy thirstily, and was already cowering as if with an ague over the fire. Wallingford spoke to him twice before he moved. The landlady watched them curiously from the stair-foot, as they went up, to see that they found the right room. "’T is one o’ the nights when every strayaway in England is like to come clacking at my door," she said, not without satisfaction, as she made a desperate onset at her long evening’s work. "A pair o’ runaways!" she muttered again; "but the tall lad can’t help princeing it in his drover’s clothes. I ’ll tell the stable to deny they ’re here, if any troopers come. I ’ll help ’em safe off the land or into Bristol, whether Mr. Alderman Davis risks his old bones by night or not. A little more mercy in this world ain’t goin’ to hurt it!" *XLIII* *THEY FOLLOW THE DIKE* "There’s not a fibre in my trembling frame That does not vibrate when thy step draws near." Early in the morning of that day, when Mr. John Davis had been returning from a brief visit to his counting-room, he was surprised at being run against by a disreputable looking fellow, who dashed out of a dirty alley, and disappeared again as quickly, after putting a letter into his hand. The alderman turned, irate, to look after this lawless person, and then marched on with offended dignity up the hill. When he had turned a safe corner he stopped, and, holding his stout cane under his arm, proceeded to unfold the paper. He had received threats before in this fashion, like all magistrates or town officials; some loose fellow warned off, or a smuggler heavily fined, would now and then make threats against the authorities. The letter in his hand proved to be of another sort. It might be dingy without, but within the handwriting was that of a gentleman.