I
longed to have speech with her, but I found from the servant that
Doctor Blair had left that morning on a journey of pastoral visitation,
and had taken her with him. The man did not know their destination, but
believed it to be somewhere in the north. The thought vaguely
disquieted me. In these perilous times I wished to think of her as safe
in the coastlands, where a ship would give a sure refuge.
I met Grey that afternoon at the Half-way Tavern. In the last week he
seemed to have aged and grown graver. There was now no hint of the
light arrogance of old. He regarded me curiously, but without
hostility.
"We have been enemies," I said, "and now, though there may be no
friendship, at any rate there is a truce to strife. Last night I begged
of you to come with me on this matter of the Governor's wager, but
'twas not the wager I thought of."
Then I told him the whole tale. "The stake is the safety of this land,
of which you are a notable citizen. I ask you, because I know you are a
brave man. Will you leave your comfort and your games for a season, and
play for higher stakes at a more desperate hazard?"
I told him everything, even down to my talk with the Governor. I did
not lessen the risks and hardships, and I gave him to know that his
companions would be rough folk, whom he may well have despised.
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