She was at length in the hall, laying the white home-spun, home-
bleached cloth, and setting the trenchers (all the Mowbray plate had
long ago gone in the King's service), wondering anxiously, meantime,
what could have become of Walter, with many secret and painful
misgivings, though she had been striving to persuade her mother that
he was only absent on some freak of his own.
Presently the door which led to the garden was opened, and to her
great joy Walter put his head into the room.
"O Walter," she exclaimed, "the battle is lost! but Edmund and the
King have both escaped."
"Say you so?" said Walter, smiling. "Here is a gentleman who can
give you some news of Edmund."
At the same moment Rose saw her beloved eldest brother enter the
room. It would be hard to say which was her first thought, joy or
dismay--she had no time to ask herself. Quick as lightning she
darted to the door leading to the staircase, bolted it, threw the bar
across the fastening of the front entrance, and then, flying to her
brother, clung fast round his neck, kissed him on each cheek, and
felt his ardent kiss on her brow, as she exclaimed in a frightened
whisper, "You must not stay here: there are troopers in the house!"
"Troopers!--quartered on us?" cried Walter.
Rose hastily explained, trembling lest anyone should attempt to
enter.
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