'Here he is, and safe
too! I am glad to see him back again, old Hugh!'
'I'm a Turk if he don't give me a warmer welcome always than any man
of sense,' said Hugh, shaking hands with him with a kind of ferocious
friendship, strange enough to see. 'How are you, boy?'
'Hearty!' cried Barnaby, waving his hat. 'Ha ha ha! And merry too,
Hugh! And ready to do anything for the good cause, and the right, and
to help the kind, mild, pale-faced gentleman--the lord they used so
ill--eh, Hugh?'
'Ay!' returned his friend, dropping his hand, and looking at Gashford
for an instant with a changed expression before he spoke to him. 'Good
day, master!'
'And good day to you,' replied the secretary, nursing his leg.
'And many good days--whole years of them, I hope. You are heated.'
'So would you have been, master,' said Hugh, wiping his face, 'if you'd
been running here as fast as I have.'
'You know the news, then? Yes, I supposed you would have heard it.'
'News! what news?'
'You don't?' cried Gashford, raising his eyebrows with an exclamation
of surprise. 'Dear me! Come; then I AM the first to make you acquainted
with your distinguished position, after all. Do you see the King's Arms
a-top?' he smilingly asked, as he took a large paper from his pocket,
unfolded it, and held it out for Hugh's inspection.
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