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"With all my heart," said Gulian, this new aspect of things driving all unpleasantness connected with Betty from his head; "but her father's consent is, I fear me, quite a different matter." "That is not for to-day," cried the lover, as he shook Gulian's hand with almost boyish delight, "and to-morrow may take care of itself if I can but gain Betty's ear."
"But they will not; I heard Gulian say only last night that the cleverness with which the placards are prepared and placed was wonderful. Who tells you these things, Peter? Do have a care, for we are under Gulian's roof, and he would be very angry if he knew that your and my sympathies are all on the side of the Whigs." "Oh, I hear things," murmured Peter evasively.
I came" and Geoffrey hesitated, as a questioning look came on Gulian's face "I came I In short, am I right in esteeming you for the present as brother and guardian to Mistress Betty Wolcott?" "Aye; in her father's absence, of course, I stand in that relation toward her. Well, what of Betty?"
So Kitty promised, with the utmost sincerity, that not one syllable would she breathe of the matter to her mother, or, in fact, to any human being, and hugged herself mentally as she thought of Gulian's horror if he only knew what a personal interest she had in that night's mad race for freedom.
This was unwonted warmth on Gulian's part, and Yorke, feeling it to be such, grasped his hand warmly at parting, as he flung himself in his saddle, and rode gayly up Maiden Lane. But the "best laid plans o' mice and men" often meet with unsuspected hindrances, as both Gulian and Yorke were destined to discover.
Exhausted as she was, mirth-loving Kitty was moved to a smile as she listened to Gulian's labored sentences, in which he endeavored to convince his listener and himself that what he considered almost a crime against the King's majesty permitting the escape of a rebel spy was, so far as Betty was concerned, a meritorious act.
But supper and everything connected with it was far from Betty's thoughts; all she wished was a few words with Kitty alone, which she knew Gulian's absence would give her. "Betty," said Kitty the instant he left them, "you do not know half the danger. If he has not the means of escape close at hand if the British officers arrest the fiddler Oliver is totally lost.
"And now tell me about the letters," pursued Kitty. "You sent for your sister, grandma told me. Which one, Clarissa?" "Indeed, I do not know; I left the choice to my father, but I think I hope it may be Betty. I only wish I might have Moppet as well," and the quickly checked sigh told Gulian's keen ears what the unuttered thought had been. "Betty let me see is that the sister next yourself?"
Then an idea darted into her quick brain; inaction under the circumstances was maddening; back she darted to Kitty's side. "Kitty, come with me instantly. We will muffle ourselves in our cloaks and hoods and steal forth for a moment. I'll find Pompey and our sleigh, and if worst comes, let Oliver fly in that fashion; Gulian's horses are fleet enough to distance pursuers."
"Only this," and rising, Yorke bowed in courtly fashion: "I have the honor to ask your permission to pay my addresses to your sister, Mistress Betty." "To Betty?" was Gulian's astonished and delighted response. "You surprise me. Your acquaintance is but recent, and, I think, somewhat formal?"
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