However, last of all I saw him unhitch his horse and take the bridle on his arm, and then Aileen put on her hat and walked up to the top of the ridge along the stony track with him. Then I saw him mount and start off at a rattling good bat along the road to Turon and the trooper after him. I felt all right again then, and watched Aileen come slowly down the road again with her head down, quite thoughtful like, very different from the way she went up. She didn’t stop at the house, but walked straight down to the barn and came in at the door. I wondered what she would do when she saw my horse. But she didn’t start, only said—

“You may come out now, Dick; I knew you were here. I saw you ride in just as Sir Ferdinand and the trooper came up.”

“So that’s why you were making yourself so pleasant,” says I laughingly. “I mustn’t tell Starlight, I suppose, or we shall be having a new yarn in the newspapers—‘Duel between Sir Ferdinand Morringer and Captain Starlight’.”

She laughed, too, and then looked sad and serious like again.

“I wonder if we shall ever have an end to this wretched hide-and-seek work. God knows I would do anything that an honest girl could do for you boys and him, but it sometimes looks dark enough, and I have dreadful fears that all will be in vain, and that we are fated to death and ruin at the end.”

“Come, come, don’t break down before the time,” I said. “It’s been a close shave, though; but Sir Ferdinand won’t be back for a bit, so we may as well take it easy. I’ve got a lot to say to you.”

“He said he wouldn’t be back this way till Friday week,” says she. “He has an escort to see to then, and he expected to be at Stony Creek in a couple of hours from this. He’ll have to ride for it.”