ves in the big house. She is the lady who made you
feel ashamed when you took the old Earl's--well, never mind! I hope we
are all properly repentant over it. However, I had better be getting
on with the matter in hand. She lives there, and if I can find no way
to gain speech of her we all three of us will have to take to the
thickets, and that's the truth."

"If I could but lay my fingers on her throttle," said Jem Bottles in a
blood-curdling voice, "she soon enough would--"

"Stop!" I cried. "You misunderstood me!"

"Aye, he does," spoke in Paddy. "But I know what your honour is
meaning. You are meaning that the young lady--aye, didn't I see her,
and didn't she give me a look of her eye? Aye, I know what your honour
is meaning."

"You are knowing it precisely," said I. "The young lady is more to me
than three Irelands. You understand? Well, then, in the first place I
must gain speech of her. To-day we march out and see what I can
accomplish by climbing trees. In the meantime you two are to lay in
waiting and assist me when necessary."

"I am foreseeing that everything will be easy," cried Paddy
jubilantly.

"You are an Irishman," I responded in anger.

"Aye," he replied bitterly, "and another is within reach of my stick
if it weren't for my respect for my betters, although such a thing
never could happen, please God!"

"No bold talk," said I. "You may do that after." I bade Jem Bottles
load his pistols and carry them handy, but to keep them well
concealed. Paddy preferred to campaign with only a stout stick. I took
one pistol, and of course my sword.

These preparations deeply stirred Jem Bottles and Paddy.

"Your honour," said Paddy, "if I see a man pulling you by the leg when
you would be climbing the tree, may I hit him one lick?"

"Aye," growled Jem Bottles, "and if I get a pistol against his head,
he'll find out the difference between gunpowder and sand."

"Stop," I cried. "You have the wrong idea entirely. This talk of
carnage startles me and alarms me. Remember we are in London. In
London even the smallest massacre arouses great excitement. There are
to be no killings, and even no sound thrashings. It is all to be done
with dainty gloves. Neither one of the pair of you looks fitted for
the work, but I am obliged to make you serve by hook or crook. 'Tis
too late to scour the country looking for good comrades. I must put
up with you, since I can get no better."

They were well pleased at the prosp