"
"I will tell you what I know, Martin, but how can it help Barbara?"
"She has command of my thoughts, as you speak she will hear; but a
warning, master--you must speak the truth. I shall not know the truth
from a lie, but she will, and if you lie we shall not find the
treasure."
"Barbara went to Dorchester to try and save the highwayman, Gilbert
Crosby," said Sir John. "It was Rosmore's device to send her word that
Crosby was a prisoner, and on the way she was captured, not by the
King's troops as a rebel, but by men in Rosmore's pay. She is in no real
danger, but she does not know this. She will not be brought before
Jeffreys or any other judge, but she will be treated as though this were
to be her fate. Rosmore will save her, do you understand, and in her
gratitude she will give him his reward."
"How will he save me?" came the question in a monotonous voice, and Sir
John started, for it did not seem as if Martin had asked it.
"The day of the trial will be fixed--it may be to-day or to-morrow, I
cannot tell; but the night before she will be smuggled into a waiting
coach and driven here to Aylingford."
"Must she promise to marry Lord Rosmore first?"
"Probably.
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