"
"Mad Martin," murmured Barbara.
"Mad. Yes, in one way, perhaps," said Fellowes. "That way you will not
learn from those papers. He was a man, and near him you grew to be a
woman. Poor Martin! He was mad enough to love you."
Barbara put her hand into Crosby's. She remembered what the highwayman
had said that morning, she remembered how she had once stood in the dark
passage under Aylingford, one hand in Gilbert's, one in Martin's; two
men who loved her and had braved so much for her. And then she looked at
Fellowes, whose face was turned from her. He had said nothing of what he
had done, but she remembered that night in the hall.
"Three men; Gilbert and Martin, yes, and you, Mr. Fellowes," she said
softly, putting her other hand into his. "It was a triple alliance, and,
indeed, never was woman better served."
That night Gilbert Crosby and Barbara Lanison left England, and a few
weeks later were married in Holland, in which country they found their
first home together. When, a little later, England rose in revolt
against King James, some of the negotiations with the Prince of Orange
were conducted by Crosby, and he accompanied the Prince when he landed
at Torbay, receiving later a baronetcy for his services.
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