Two or three men of the Somerset militia, in their red and yellow liveries, lounged by the gates, and turned uninterested eyes upon these newcomers.
Wilding approached his wife's groom.

"Get down," he said, "I need your horse--on the King's business.

Get down, I say," he added impatiently, upon noting the fellow's stare, and, seizing his leg, he helped him to dismount by almost dragging him from the saddle.

"Up with you, Nick," said he, and Nick very promptly mounted.

"Your mistress will be here presently," Wilding told the groom, and, turning on his heel, strode to his own mare.