Page:Ethel Churchill 2.pdf/257

Rh asked, in a very kind tone, "And what does Miss Churchill want of me?"

"Pity and pardon!" exclaimed Ethel, in a low, but distinct whisper. "I thought how it was!" cried Walpole, "those fantastic coxcombs have all the luck with you. Here is a goose—by Jove! I am calumniating that respectable bird: Trevanion has not even the brains of a goose—an idiot tries to unsettle a whole kingdom, does contrive to turn the heads of some worthy people, and here are two of the prettiest women in England coming to beg for his head, as if it were worth keeping on his shoulders!" "You are quite wrong," interrupted Lady Marchmont; "as far as Mr. Trevanion is concerned, you have our full permission to hang him out of the way at your earliest convenience!" "You only say this," returned Sir Robert, fixing a penetrating glance on Ethel, to whose cheek the colour rose vividly, "because you know he has escaped! The jailor was fool enough to have a daughter, and she was fool