Do they keep much company?" Harry shrugged.
"Who is this Mrs. Weston?"
"I never saw her before." Harry paused, and then with a laugh
added--"before yesterday."
"That's a fine woman, her mistress. Do you do anything in that
quarter, sirrah?"
"Why should you think so?"
"She was willing enough that you should try."
"She is meat for my betters," said Harry meekly.
"For Master Geoffrey?" The Colonel looked knowing. "Do you know, Harry, I
think Master Geoffrey is a pigeon made to be plucked. Well. What was the
pretty lady's talk about highwaymen?"
Harry looked at his father for some time. "The truth is, I don't
understand Benjamin," he said at last. "I wonder if you will. Faith, sir,
here is a pretty piece of family life. The good son confides in his
father alone of all the world."
"Go on, sir," Colonel Boyce chuckled. "I play fair."
So Harry told his tale of Benjamin and Benjamin's companion and their
disaster. It was that appearance in the crisis of the fight of other
gentlemen on horseback which most interested Colonel Boyce. "So they went
in pursuit of the fellow who had fled and they never came back again." He
looked quizzically at his son. "These be very honest gentlemen."
"Why, sir, I thought nothing of that. They were plainly travelling at
speed.
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