s
unhinged already; and I decided in my mind that we must bring this
monstrous situation to an end.

"It would be well, I think, if I took word to my lady," said I. Indeed,
he should have gone himself, but I counted--not in vain--on his
indifference.

"Ay," says he, "do. I will hurry breakfast: we must all appear at the
table, even Alexander; it must appear we are untroubled."

I ran to my lady's room, and with no preparatory cruelty disclosed my
news.

"My mind was long ago made up," said she. "We must make our packets
secretly to-day, and leave secretly to-night. Thank Heaven, we have
another house! The first ship that sails shall bear us to New York."

"And what of him?" I asked.

"We leave him Durrisdeer," she cried. "Let him work his pleasure upon
that."

"Not so, by your leave," said I. "There shall be a dog at his heels that
can hold fast. Bed he shall have, and board, and a horse to ride upon,
if he behave himself; but the keys--if you think well of it, my
lady--shall be left in the hands of one Mackellar. There will be good
care taken; trust him for that."

"Mr. Mackellar," she cried, "I thank you for that thought. All shall be
left in your hands. If we must go into a savage country, I bequeath it
to you to take our vengeance. Send Macconochie to St. Bride's to arrange
privately for horses and to call the lawyer. My lord must leave
procuration."

At that moment my lord came to the door, and we opened our plan to him.

"I will never hear of it," he cried; "he would think I feared him. I
will stay in my own house, please God, until I die. There lives not the
man can beard me out of it. Once and for all, here I am, and here I
stay, in spite of all the devils in hell." I can give no idea of the
vehemency of his words and utterance; but we both stood aghast, and I in
particular, who had been a witness of his former self-restraint.

My lady looked at me with an appeal that went to my heart and recalled
me to my wits. I made her a private sign to go, and when my lord and I
were alone, went up to him where he was racing to and fro in one end of
the room like a half-lunatic, and set my hand firmly on his shoulder.

"My lord," says I, "I am going to be the plain-dealer once more; if for
the last time, so much the better, for I am grown weary of the part."

"Nothing will change me," he answered. "God forbid I should refuse to
hear you; but nothing will change me." This he said firmly, with no
signal of th