"Petronella, my sister! Nay, but this is a happy chance!" cried
Cuthbert, springing eagerly forward; and the next moment
Petronella, with a little cry of mingled joy and fear, had flung
herself into her brother's arms.

"Cuthbert, dear Cuthbert! How I have longed to see thee once again!
Hast thou come to say farewell?"

"In truth, methinks it must be farewell," answered Cuthbert,
holding her tenderly to him, whilst he caressed her hair and her
soft cheek with his hand. "I may not linger too long in my kind
uncle's house, lest the matter should come to my father's ears, and
a worse breach be made that might cause thee to suffer more, sweet
sister. And now, since I may be faring forth tomorrow, tell me of
thyself. How go matters at the Gate House? What said our father to
my flight?"

"He is right furious thereat, and raged for two days like a madman,
so that I durst not venture near him."

"He laid no hand on thee?" asked Cuthbert quickly clinching his
hand in the darkness.

"Nay, he did but threaten; but as I told him all I knew, he could
do no more. I said that thou hadst fled--that thou couldst brook
such a life no longer, and had told him so many times thyself. I
did not know myself where thou hadst gone when first he spoke, and
he has asked me no question since. Tell me not too much, lest I
have to tell it to him."