‘I am not here for myself,’ Laurence broke in at last, feeling stiff and strange; the idea of his father ill, reduced, seemed unreal. ‘I am here with the Corps. We must requisition the deer to feed the dragons. There are nine at present,’ he added, ‘but there will be more before morning; I did not want you to be alarmed.’

‘Nine—’ George looked towards the deer park, and saw the lights casting the shadows of many dragons. ‘Then, you are not lying,’ he said slowly. ‘What has happened?’

The news could hardly be concealed. ‘Trounced us, outside London,’ Laurence said. ‘The army is strung out from here to Weedon, and he took ten thousand prisoner. We are falling back to Scotland.’

‘My God,’ George said, and they stood in silence for a moment. ‘Are you staying by the wood?’ When Laurence had nodded, George said, ‘Well—you may take whatever you need of the deer, of course; they are the King's. There are the stables for your men, too, and the farmhouse. I will send food down to you all from the kitchens, and your commander, we can give him a bed—’ It was a long delaying tactic, but at last he came to it and finished, awkwardly, ‘I am still not going to have you in, Will; I am sorry.’

‘No,’ Laurence said. ‘No, of course.’ He might have insisted, for himself or his fellows: it was their right as officers to be quartered in the house when there was room. Jane might, if she chose; But he could not bear to force his way in.

‘Will you tell me—Will he come through here?’ George asked him, quietly. ‘Ought I to send Elizabeth, Mother and the children away, to Northumbria perhaps?’

‘I imagine he could send men to take the cattle for his beasts,’ Laurence said, ‘but if he marches, he will march up the coast; he cannot leave our outposts behind his flank.’ He drew his hand across his forehead, tiredly. ‘I am sorry, I cannot be confident of such counsel, but I think there are few places much safer, unless you send them to Liverpool and by ship to Halifax.’

George nodded, then turned and went up the steps. He hesitated at the door, as if he might speak again; but in the end said nothing. He went back inside, and the door was shut behind him.