It was plain that he really meant it, but hope for Edmund made Lady
Woodley cheerful about all she might have to undergo; and even trust
that the poor little ones she was obliged to leave behind, might be
safe with Rose and Deborah. Her great fear was lest the rebels
should search the villages before Edmund had time to escape.
CHAPTER IX.
Cautiously stealing down stairs, Rose first, to spy where the rebels
might be, the brother and sister reached the kitchen, where Rose
provided Edmund with a grey cloak, once belonging to a former
serving-man, and after a short search in an old press, brought out
various equipments, saddle, belt, and skirt, with which her mother
had once been wont to ride pillion-fashion. These they carried to
the outhouse where Edmund's horse had been hidden; and when all was
set in order by the light of the lantern, Rose thought that her
brother looked more like a groom and less like a cavalier than she
had once dared to hope. They mounted, and on they rode, across the
downs, through narrow lanes, past farm houses, dreading that each
yelping dog might rouse his master to report which way they were
gone. It was not till day had dawned, and the eastern sky was red
with the approaching sun, that they came down the narrow lane that
led to the little town of Bosham, a low flat place, sloping very
gradually to the water.
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