Page:Milady at Arms (1937).pdf/40

 the sinewy hand that lay Hstless upon the red uniform. "Nay, lad, rest easy!" said the farmer cheerily. "When ye feel a little better, we will help ye up into a little room at the head o' you stairs, and there ye can sleep and get well."

"Art going to gi' him Mary's and my room?" Sally drew near to ask eagerly.

"Aye, mayhap!"

Sally clapped her hands softly. "Oh, I be so very glad!" she cried in delight.

"Why, Sally!" Master Todd looked at her quizzically. "Art so eager to do the enemy a favor, then?"

Sally blushed and hung her head. "Why, i' sooth, I had forgotten he was an enemy," she faltered.

Mistress Todd, coming up behind them in time to hear their last words, laughed scornfully. Twas ever thus!" she observed dryly. "Let a lass ha' a pretty face or a lad broad shoulders, and everything be forgiven them, e'en treason!"

Her husband looked in uneasy silence from her tired, scowling face to Sally's flushed one, then sighed and went outdoors, as was his custom whenever he sensed something unpleasant in the air. He did not know of the minister's visit earlier in the afternoon, but he guessed that some disagreeable incident other than the red-coats' visit had upset his wife.