CHAPTER TWENTY TWO.
SAVED!
"Here, how dare you!" shouted Frank angrily; and, in utter astonishment,the officer stopped short, and lowered the sword he had fully expectedto use, while the men threw up their bayonets and stood fast. "I don'tknow you, but you belong to the Guards, I suppose, and--"
"Silence, Frank! Let me speak," said Lady Gowan, without a tremor inher voice. "Then you are not an armed mob of rioters. Pray, what doesthis outrage mean?"
"I ask your pardon, Lady Gowan," said the young officer, recoveringhimself; "it is a painful act of duty."
"To break into my house, sir!" said Lady Gowan haughtily, while her sonfelt more than ever that he was engaged in some madly exciting game.
"I was refused entrance, after repeatedly demanding it in the King'sname."
"In the King's name!" cried Lady Gowan scornfully. "How were I, my son,or my servants to know that this was not the excuse made by one of theriotous Jacobite bands to obtain entrance and plunder my home?"
"I cannot help fulfilling my duty, Lady Gowan," said the young officerrespectfully. "I must proceed to the arrest."
"Arrest?" cried Lady Gowan hurriedly. "Oh, Frank! But surely--ah, Iwill speak to the Princess. Such a trivial act--a thoughtless boy.Arrest him for absenting himself without leave--to meet his mother--athis own home?"
"Your ladyship must be trifling with me," said the officer sternly, "andI cannot be played with. Information was brought to the Palace that SirRobert Gowan is here, and at all costs my orders are to arrest him. Ibeg that you will tell him to surrender at once."
"Go back to those who sent you, sir, and tell them that Sir Robert Gowanis not here."
"Then where is he, madam?"
"You have no right to question me, sir," said Lady Gowan haughtily;"but, to end this interview, I will answer your question. I do notknow."
"Your ladyship tells me that?" cried the officer quickly.
"I refuse to be questioned by you, sir," said Lady Gowan with dignity."You are in the King's Guards; you have a duty to perform. I amhelpless at this moment. Pray do it, and go. But I insist, in the nameof the lady whom I have the honour to serve, that you do not go withoutleaving a proper guard to protect this house from pillage by the moboutside."
The officer looked puzzled and confused for a moment or two, and then hespoke again sharply.
"I am bound to take your ladyship's word," he said; "but you know!" hecried, turning suddenly upon Frank, and so fiercely intended as to throwhim off his guard. "Come, sir; it is of no use to prevaricate. Whereis Sir Robert?"
But Frank was as firm as his mother, and he met the young officer's eyeswithout flinching.
"Where is my father?" he said quietly. "I don't know, and if I did Iwouldn't tell you."
A flush of anger suffused the young Guardsman's face; but the boy'smanner touched him home, and the anger passed away in a laugh.
"Well," he said, "that's not a bad answer. Unfortunately, younggentleman, I can't be satisfied with it.--Lady Gowan, I regret havingthis duty placed in my hands to carry out, but I must perform it. I amcompelled to disbelieve you and your son, and search the house."
"Do your duty then, sir," said Lady Gowan coldly; "but I cannot stayhere to submit to the insult. I insist upon my house being protected."
"My men are at the door, madam, and no one will be allowed to pass. Ianswer for the place being safe."
"Thank you, sir," said Lady Gowan courteously. "I do not blame you forall this. I presume my son and I can pass your men?"
"Of course, madam," said the officer; and his manner changed, for thesewords impressed him more than any denial that Sir Robert was there. "Ithank you for going, though," he said, recovering his composure. "Yourelieve me from the painful duty of arresting Sir Robert in yourpresence."
Lady Gowan smiled, and drew her hood over her head.
"Come, Frank," she said; "see me back to the Palace; you will not needyour sword."
The officer took up the silver branch Frank had set down, and as the boyreturned his sword to its sheath, and his mother took his arm, theofficer preceded them, and lit them down the stairs, where Lady Gowanstopped in the splinter-strewn hall to speak to the housekeeper.
"See, Berry," she said quietly, "that this gentleman and his men haveevery opportunity for searching the house. A rumour has been carried tothe Palace that Sir Robert is here. When they have done, men will beplaced as sentries to guard the place. In the morning send for theworkmen to see that a new door is placed there, and to do first what isnecessary to board this one up."
"Yes, my lady," said the housekeeper quietly.
The next minute Lady Gowan and her son passed out of the house with acorporal and four men to escort them back to the Palace, the crowdmaking way for the armed men, while the officer returned to the hall,and looked at the sergeant fixedly.
"Gone?" said the officer.
"Yes, sir. Bird's flown," replied the sergeant.
"Well, search from top to bottom, from cellar to leads. That's the wayhe must have gone."
"If it wasn't a false alarm, sir," said the man respectfully. "I neverhad much faith in any spies."
"Be on your guard; he may be here," said the officer. "Now search."
The sergeant went off promptly with his men, muttering to himself:
"And nobody's better pleased than me. Nicely we should have beengroaned at if we had found him. That is, if we had taken him; but he'dhave fought like the man he is. Well, I'm glad he's gone."
"I Saved, Frank, saved!" whispered Lady Gowan, as they parted onreaching the Palace.
"Yes, mother, saved. Oh, don't look like that!"
She kissed him hurriedly, and entered her apartment, to hurry thence tothe Princess's chamber; while Frank made for his own, with his headfeeling as if it were full of buzzing sounds, and ready to ask himselfif all that he had gone through was not part of a feverish dream.