CHAPTER VIII

THE MAIL GUARD

Somewhere about two in the morning a squall had burst upon the castle, a clap of screaming wind that made the towers rock, and a copious drift of rain that streamed from the windows. The wind soon blew itself out, but the day broke cloudy and dripping, and when the little party assembled at breakfast their humours appeared to have changed with the change of weather. Nance had been brooding on the scene at the river-side, applying it in various ways to her particular aspirations, and the result, which was hardly to her mind, had taken the colour out of her cheeks. Mr. Archer, too, was somewhat absent, his thoughts were of a mingled strain; and even upon his usually impassive countenance there were betrayed successive depths of depression and starts of exultation, which the girl translated in terms of her own hopes and fears. But Jonathan was the most altered: he was strangely silent, hardly passing a word, and watched Mr. Archer with an eager and furtive eye. It seemed as if the idea that had so long hovered before him had now taken a more solid shape, and, while it still attracted, somewhat alarmed his imagination.

At this rate, conversation languished into a silence which was only broken by the gentle and ghostly noises of the rain on the stone roof and about all that field of ruins; and they were all relieved when the note of a man whistling and the sound of approaching footsteps in the grassy court announced a visitor. It was the ostler from the "Green Dragon" bringing a letter for Mr. Archer. Nance saw her hero's face contract and then relax again at sight of it; and she thought that she knew why, for the sprawling, gross black characters of the address were easily distinguishable from the fine writing on the former letter that had so much disturbed him. He opened it and began to read; while the ostler sat down to table with a pot of ale, and proceeded to make himself agreeable after his fashion.

Answer the following questions:
1. was it raining?
2. what time did it start?
3. what did the ostler bring to the table?
4. were the breakfast goers happy about the weather?
5. who was brooding?
6. was Jonathan being loud?
7. who was the most altered?
8. who was he watching?
9. had the wind died down?
10. how was Mr. Archer's thoughts?
11. who brought the letter?
12. who was he bringing it to?
13. did he open it?
14. who was Nance's hero?

Numbered answers:
1. yes
2. about two in the morning
3. a pot of ale
4. no
5. Nance
6. no
7. Jonathan
8. Mr. Archer
9. yes
10. his thoughts were of a mingled strain
11. the ostler from the "Green Dragon"
12. Mr. Archer
13. yes
14. Mr. Archer