Page:Joan, the curate.djvu/203

Rh "He is not here."

"'Tis well, then. I'll return." She took a step towards the door, and then stopped. There was a sudden change to wistfulness in her tone which touched Tregenna to the quick when he heard her next words, "Ann, should he be brought hither: should your kinsmen find him and bring him to you, as I know they would do, you'll—you'll spare him, you'll do him no hurt, for my sake, Ann, for the sake of what I have done for you?"

Again there was a pause. Then Ann answered, with a mocking laugh—

"Oh, he shall not be treated worse than his deserts, I'll warrant you!"

There was a bitterness in her tone which appalled both her hearers. Joan stepped hurriedly back into the room, and cried, in a ringing voice—

"Then, troth, Ann, I will not leave this roof till your friends have come back!"

"You had better go, Miss Joan," retorted Ann, dryly. "My mates, and specially after a raid, are no companions for a gentlewoman."

"Nor are they to be trusted in their treatment of a gentleman. So, faith, Ann, I will