" Then he turned to
the serjeant and said: "I believe you've got hold of the wrong man; for
this is only a poor half-witted lad, not the man that you want. Don't
be hard on him."
"Not I, if he gives no trouble," said the serjeant. So he went on with
his charge along the road to Kingstoke, the idiot staggering along on
his mother's arm between the fifer and the drummer, and he himself
walking behind. And the Corporal limped up over the park as quickly as
he could to the Hall.
CHAPTER XI
Great was Lady Eleanor's distress when she heard from the Corporal what
had happened. "Ah, if only Colonel Fitzdenys had been here!" she
repeated more than once; but she could think of nothing that could be
done except to send a letter at once to the colonel to tell him the
whole story and to ask him to be present at Kingstoke, which lay close
to Fitzdenys, when the prisoner should be brought up next morning.
This was the Corporal's suggestion; but Lady Eleanor noticed that he
was unusually silent and subdued, and she was rather surprised when he
asked leave rather mysteriously to be absent from the house for the
rest of the day. But she trusted him so implicitly that she granted
his request without hesitation, and the Corporal, having sent off the
letter, went out for the evening by himself.
The truth was that he was bitterly hurt and indignant at the hard words
that Mrs.
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