Page:Milady at Arms (1937).pdf/51

 the burdens of her neighbors, heavy burdens of patriotism and warfare!

It was on the evening of the second day that Jerry, seated at the supper table with the Todds, caught sight of the long, furtive face of Stockton gazing at him through an open window that he chanced to be alone in facing. Jerry's expression did not obviously change; but Stockton at once received the impression that he was to secrete himself somewhere near by until the boy found an opportunity to see him.

It was not long afterward, then, that Stockton, lurking behind a small building used by Mistress Todd as a dairy, heard the young Englishman exclaim loudly as he stepped, unhindered, out of the kitchen door: "I must get a breath o' this fine mountain air before I retire this night!"

Stockton moved forth from his hiding place as Jerry rapidly approached him. The moon had not yet risen, and they were safe from detection. "How now, Lieutenant Lawrence?" demanded Stockton brusquely, In greeting. "From all reports, ye are not seriously wounded. Art not tarrying overly long here, sir? Hast made no attempt at escape?"

"I have gi'en my word o' honor not to escape until after to-morrow, sir," answered Jerry respectfully. "Besides," he added with an amiable smile, "how could I hope to escape without a steed, sir?"