Part 20 (2/2)
”Yes, Bunny! Hundreds.”
”But this 'ere's quite a new un, eh?”
”New indeed, Bunny.”
”Ay, and I'm beginning to like it, too, lad. Well, I suppose I must be off.”
”But, Bunny, may I depend on you that you will keep this a secret?”
”May you depend on me, lad? Why, ar'n't I said it? Did yer ever know me not keep my word?”
”Never!” cried Waller.
”Then look 'ere, sir. That means mum.”
”That” was a smart slap on the mouth, Bunny's metaphorical way of showing that the secret of the young enthusiast who had come, as he believed, to fight for and rescue a lost cause, was within that casket and he had banged down the lid.
CHAPTER TWENTY.
RETURN OF THE SEARCH-PARTY.
”What are you thinking about?” said Waller.
”Thinking,” replied G.o.dfrey.
”Yes; you haven't spoken a word for the last five minutes.”
The two lads were standing together with their elbows resting on the sill of the wide dormer window, whose two cas.e.m.e.nts were propped wide open, while they gazed out into the soft darkness of the autumn night.
”I was thinking about that friend of yours who was going to get me a pa.s.s across to France in a fis.h.i.+ng-boat.”
”Oh,” said Waller in a disappointed tone; ”I thought you were thinking about how beautiful it is looking out here into the darkness of the forest, with the scent of the soft, warm, damp leaves, and listening to the owls and that squeaking rabbit that had the weasel after it.”
”It is very beautiful,” said G.o.dfrey sadly; ”but I was thinking about that boat.”
”I wish you wouldn't be so fond of wis.h.i.+ng to get away,” said Waller gloomily. ”It's as if I had not done enough to make you comfortable.”
”Oh!” cried the lad pa.s.sionately, and he turned to lay his hand on Waller's shoulder. ”How can you say that, when you have done too much, and made me feel--almost alone in the world as I am--as if I should like to stay here always!”
”Do you mean that?” cried Waller excitedly.
”Of course I do. I never had a friend like you before, and I never knew what it was to lead a boy's life. Out there in France I never heard about anything else hardly but politics, and getting back the crown for the Stuarts.”
”Then you really don't want to go?” cried Waller.
”No; but I must go, and the sooner the better. You know what I must feel.”
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