Page:Mistress Madcap Surrenders (1926).pdf/212

 shoved Mistress Ranfield rudely aside and had leaped to Mehitable's side. His hand closed heavily upon her shoulder.

"Not so fast, mistress!" he told her fiercely. "When did ye enter this inn? And how much hath ye overheard?"

Mehitable flung up her head and looked at him proudly. "What concern o' yours, ye—spy!" she stormed.

Tense silence overwhelmed the three. The fire continued to sputter, and somewhere, Mehitable noticed vaguely, a clock ticked. Then Simpson, his handsome face malicious and ugly, turned to Mistress Ranfield.

"A rope for the rebel!" he ordered.

The inn mistress's thin yellow face slowly went dull red. "Ye"—she stopped and licked her lips; there was an odd, breathless hope in her voice, and her hands twitched, like a cat's paws about to play with a mouse—"ye mean to flog the rebel maid?" she asked.

But Simpson's face flushed. A pang went through Mehitable as his likeness to Tabitha showed momentarily.

"Nay," he said shortly. "We will take her into the kitchen and tie her to a chair—ye be sure your husband be not home?—Aye?—Then," he ended grimly, "can we discover how much she knows!"

So the two schemers pushed Mehitable out into