--these are to inform you that I have the deserter Henry
Bale saf under lock and kay which is all at present from your honour's
most ob't humble serv't.--J. BRIMACOTT."
He put the letter into his pocket, and drawing a mattress before the
door of the loose-box, went fast asleep on it till dawn, when he called
a sleepy stable-boy from the rooms above and bade him ride over with
the letter to Fitzdenys Court.
By eight o'clock Colonel Fitzdenys arrived at a gallop from Fitzdenys
Court. Having seen and questioned the Corporal's prisoner, who made a
full confession, he left a message that he would return as soon as
possible, and that he would want to see Mrs. Fry and Tommy; after which
he rode back again, as fast as he had come, to Kingstoke. There his
business was soon finished, for when the idiot was brought up before
him (which he had already arranged to be done) he was able to discharge
him directly, since he himself had ascertained that the true deserter
had been captured. But none the less he gave the serjeant a guinea to
console him for his disappointment in having caught the wrong man.
Then he went to speak to the idiot's mother and to tell her how sorry
he was for the mistake that had been made; for the two had been locked
up all night in Kingstoke. She did not receive him kindly, however,
for all that she said was: "It's very well to be sorry now, and I don't
say, sir, that it's no fault of yours, but they've agone nigh to kill
my boy with their doings;" and indeed the idiot was so weak and white
that he could hardly stand.
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