Giles started to his feet.
"Anne," he said loudly, "do you know that Anne is here?"
"She was here," said Mrs. Parry, with a gratified chuckle; "but where she has been hiding is more than I know.
However, I am certain it was Anne I saw this morning on the moor.
She was veiled and dressed quietly; but I knew her walk and the turn of her head."
"You must be mistaken," said Giles, perplexed.
"Indeed, I'm not.
Trust one woman to know another, however she may disguise herself.
I tell you Anne Denham has been here in hiding.
I don't believe she left the neighborhood after all.
I wonder who took her in," muttered Mrs. Parry, rubbing her nose as usual. "I must find that out."
"But what do you mean by saying Anne went to London with the——"
"I can believe my own eyes and ears, I suppose," snapped the good lady. "I was out at seven o'clock taking a walk. I always do get up early in summer.
That is how I keep my health.
I have no patience with those who lie in bed, and——"
"But what did you see?"
"Don't you be impatient, Ware.
I want you to find Anne, as I believe she is guiltless and has suffered a lot unjustly.
While you have been on a wild-goose chase she has been here all the time.
If I had only known I should have told you; but I didn't, worse luck."
"I know you are my friend," said Giles, pressing her hand. "And you can help me by saying where Anne has gone to."
"Oh, my good man, you must find that out for yourself!
I believe she has gone to London with those Princesses of yours.
At least that fool of a Morris said they left his inn this morning early to go to London.
They drove to the Westbury Station.
That is the one we hardly ever use down here.
The Barnham Station is the nearest."
"Yes! yes!
The Westbury is ten miles away.
You go across the moor——"
"My good Ware, have I lived all these years in this place without knowing it as well as I know my own nose?
Hold your tongue, or I'll tell you nothing.
The coachman who drove these Princesses of yours"—Mrs. Parry always used this phrase disdainfully—"is a new man.
Morris hired him from Chelmsford, and he does not know Anne, luckily for her.
If it had been the old coachman she might have been in jail by this time.
Well, as I say, I was on the moor and saw the carriage coming along.
I didn't know that those Princesses were in it till one of them—the younger—got out and stood by the roadside.
I was close at hand, and hidden by a gorse bush.
She whistled.
I tell you, Ware, she whistled.
What manners these foreigners have!
Three times she whistled.
Then some one rose from behind another bush and walked quickly to the carriage.
It was Anne.
Oh, don't tell me it wasn't," cried Mrs. Parry, vigorously shaking her head. "I knew her walk and the turn of her head.
Trust me for knowing her amongst a thousand.
Anne Denham it was and none other."
"What happened then?" asked Giles anxiously.
"Why, this Princess Olga embraced and kissed her.
Does she know her?"