"HAS YOUR FATHER BEEN A SOLDIER ?" There had been plenty going on in Mark's absence of an hour or two, and as soon as he had seen the recruits to their little force settled down in the hall to rest and refresh, he hastened up to Master Rayburn to find how his patient was going on.

"Badly, Mark, boy," said the old man; "very badly.

He has been wounded in the mind as well as body.

The best remedy for him will be the knowledge that his father and sister are safe.

Well, what fortune in your mission ?" "That's good in two ways," he said, as soon as he had heard Mark's account; "strengthens your hands, and sounds as if the people are getting as wise as their masters." Mark did not wish to discuss that subject, for it was irksome to him at a time when he felt that he did not know whether the Darleys and he were enemies or friends, his thoughts going toward the former as being the more natural in connection with the past.
Under these circumstances, he hurried away, descended, and found his father superintending the repair of the gate which defended the castle by the bridge.