Sentence:  “[...] there'll be a beating for someone, by my reckoning, if he's not there by the time the King's looking round for him. He's been in a rare <WSD>taking</WSD> since the outriders came in, that I can tell you.” 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  A state of mental distress, resulting in excited or erratic behavior (in the expression "in a taking").