ty is a great success with only one
kind of creature.'

"'What creature?' I asked.

"'The ass,' he answered, with as serious a countenance as I have seen
him wear.

"No further word was spoken as we rode back to his home," the young man
wrote. "We knew the die had been cast. We had seen it fall carelessly
out of the hand of Ignorance, obeying intellects swelled with
hereditary passion and conceit. I now had something to say to my
countrymen."

CHAPTER XI

THE DEPARTURE

That evening Jack received a brief note from Preston. It said:

"I learn that young Clarke is very ill. I think you would better get
out of England for fear of what may come. A trial would be apt to
cause embarrassment in high places. Can I give you assistance?"

Jack returned this note by the same messenger:

"Thanks, good friend, I shall go as soon as my business is finished,
which I hope may be to-morrow."

Just before the young man went to bed a brief note arrived from
Margaret. It read;

"DEAREST JACK. My father has learned of our meeting yesterday and of
how it came about. He is angry. He forbids another meeting. I shall
not submit to his tyranny. We must assert our rights like good
Americans. I have a plan. You will learn of it when we meet to-morrow
at eleven. Do not send an answer. Lovingly, MARGARET."

He slept little, and in the morning awaited with keen impatience the
hour of his appointment.

On his way to the place he heard a newsboy shouting the words "duel"
and "Yankee," followed by the suggestive statement: "Bloody murder in
high life."

Evidently Lionel Clarke had died of his wound. He saw people standing
in groups and reading the paper. He began to share the nervousness of
Preston and the wise, far-seeing Franklin. He jumped into a cab and
was at the corner some minutes ahead of time. Precisely at eleven he
saw the coach draw near. He hurried to its side. The footman
dismounted and opened the door. Inside he saw, not Margaret, but the
lady of the hidden face.

"You are to get in, sir, and make a little journey with the madame,"
said the footman.

Jack got into the coach. Its door closed, the horses started with a
jump and he was on his way whither he knew not. Nor did he know the
reason for the rapid pace at which the horses had begun to travel.

"If you do not mind, sir, we will not lift the shades," said the veiled
lady, as the coach started. "We shall see Margaret soon, I