s_ that
was in him, and, after running Luke Asgill through the body, had paid
the penalty--in fight so fair that the very troopers who had witnessed
it could make no complaint nor raise trouble. So much Uncle Ulick had
learned. But he had not known Payton, and, exciting as the episode
sounded, it did not explain the difference in the atmosphere of the
house. Where he had left enmity and suspicion, lowering brows and a
silent table, he found smiles, and easiness, and a cheerful sense of
well-being.

Again he looked about him. "And where will James be?" he asked, for the
first time missing his nephew.

"He has left us," Flavia said slowly, with her eyes on Colonel
Sullivan.

"It's away to Galway City he is," Morty O'Beirne explained with a
chuckle.

"The saints be between us and harm!" Uncle Ulick exclaimed in
astonishment. "And why's he there?"

"The story is long," said Colonel Sullivan.

"But I can tell it in a few words," Flavia continued with dignity. "And
the sooner it is told the better. He has not behaved well, Uncle Ulick.
And at his request and with--the legal owner's consent--it's I have
agreed to pay him one-half of the value of the property."

"The devil you have!" Uncle Ulick exclaimed, in greater astonishment.
And, pushing back his seat and rubbing his huge thigh with his hand, he
looked from one to another. "By the powers! if I may take the liberty
of saying so, young lady, you've done a vast deal in a very little
time-faith, in no time at all, at all!" he added.

"It was done at his request," Flavia answered gravely.

Uncle Ulick continued to rub his thigh and to stare. These things were
very surprising. "And they're telling me," he said, "that Luke Asgill's
in bed upstairs?"

"He is."

"And recovering?"

"He is, glory be to God!"

"Nor that same's not the best news of him," Morty said with a grin.
"Nor the last."

"True for you!" Phelim cried. "If it was the last word you spoke!"

"What are you meaning?" Uncle Ulick asked.

"He's turned," said Morty. "No less! Turned! He's what his father was
before him, Mr. Sullivan--come back to Holy Church, and not a morning
but Father O'Hara's with him making his soul and what not!"

"Turned!" Uncle Ulick cried. "Luke Asgill, the Justice? Boys, you're
making fun of me!" And, unable to believe what the O'Beirnes told him,
he looked to Flavia for confirmation.

"It is true," she said.

"Bedad, it is?" Uncle Ulick replied. "Then I'll not be su