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First I saw torches appear, then Lord Strepp came down and began giving instructions, and, after counting nearly a score of his followers, I came back as quick as I could." "You've done nobly," said I. "Now stand here with this sword and prevent any man from coming up." I took one of the candles, leaving him another, and lighted a third.
Father Donovan seemed inexpressibly shocked, but my Lord Strepp, accustomed to his mother's tantrums, laughed outright as soon as the door was closed. All through he had not been in the least deceived by his sister's pretended reluctance, and recognized that the only way to get the mother's consent was through opposition.
There seemed somewhere between half a dozen and a dozen horsemen, and behind them a great mob of people on foot that fairly covered the hillside. As they crossed the brook and began to come up, I saw that their leader was young Lord Strepp himself, and Jem whispered that the horsemen behind him were the very men he had encountered on the road between London and Maidstone.
It seemed certain to me that talk related to Forister, although I had no real reason for thinking it. And I was extremely angry that the Countess of Westport and her daughter, Lady Mary Strepp, should talk of Forister. Upon my indignant meditations the parrot interpolated: "Ho, ho!" it cried hoarsely. "A pretty lady! A pretty lady! A pretty lady! A pretty lady!
"'Tis a sick man's fancy," she said. "There have been no threats. Father has had a bad day. He is not himself. He talks wildly. He " "Mary!" yelled the Earl as well as he was able. "Do you betray me? Do you betray your own father? Oh, a woman Judas and my daughter!" Lord Strepp and Colonel Royale looked as if their minds were coming apart. They stared at Lady Mary, at the Earl, at me.
So, then, we preceded my Lord Strepp and Colonel Royale through a number of narrow streets and out into some clear country. I chose a fine open bit of green turf as a goodly place for us to meet, and I warped Paddy through the gate and moved to the middle of the field. I drew my sword and saluted, and then turned away.
It was some time before I could find my tongue. "And if you design to cross blades with me, you will find me a sad renegade," said I. "I am holding the papers for the hands of their true owner." "And their true owner?" he demanded. "Lady Mary Strepp," said I. He sank back into his seat. "This Irishman's impudence is beyond measuring," he exclaimed.
And when Lord Strepp learned that I was The O'Ruddy he saw clearly that the Colonel was in the wrong, and that I had a perfect right to resent the insult to my father's memory. And so the Colonel probably said: "Look you, Strepp. I have no desire to kill this young gentleman, because I insulted his father's name. It is out of all decency.
A good day to you, Lord Strepp, and I hope your principal has no more harm come to him than I care to have come to me, which is precious little, and in which case the two of us will be little hurted." "Good-bye, O'Ruddy," said the young man. In the corridor the Colonel slapped my shoulder in a sudden exuberant outburst. "O'Ruddy," he cried, "the chance of your life!
As the ninth bottle came on the table the Colonel cried "Come, Strepp, tell us that story of how your father lost his papers. Gad, that's a good story." "No, no," said the young lord. "It isn't a good story, and besides my father never tells it at all. I misdoubt it's truth." The Colonel pounded the table. "'Tis true. 'Tis too good a story to be false.
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