the crupper under her tail, and one day, to her
owner's great delight, 'rose the divil on them' when her new groom got
the shaft of the car stuck through her collar.

The want of experience in shooting was more difficult to get over.
Grealy owned an antiquated army rifle, which he lent to Hyacinth.
It was, of course, entirely different from the Mauser, and it was
impossible to get an opportunity for firing it off. However, there was
some comfort to be found in handling the thing, and taking long and
careful aim at a distant church spire through a window.

In the face of such enthusiasm, Miss Goold could not refuse her recruit.
She talked to him freely about her plans, and was eloquent about the
spirit and abilities of M. de Villeneuve, who was to take charge of her
soldiers after they joined him in Paris. On the subject of Captain Quinn
she was much more reticent, and she refused altogether to introduce
Hyacinth to his ten fellow troopers.

'There's not the least necessity,' she said, 'for you to meet them until
the time for starting comes. In fact, I may say it is safer for none of
you to know each other.'

Hyacinth experienced a thrill of agreeable excitement. He felt that he
was engaged in a real conspiracy.

'For fear of informers?' he asked.

'Yes. One never can be quite sure of anyone. Of course, they can every
one of them give information against me. You can yourself, if you like.
But no one can betray anyone else, and as long as the men are safe, it
doesn't matter what happens to me.'

It was one of Miss Goold's weaknesses that she imagined herself to be an
object of hatred and dread to the Government, and nothing irritated her
more than a suspicion that she was not being taken seriously.

The first glimpse that Hyacinth got of the character of the men among
whom he was to serve came to him through Tim Halloran. Tim was still
sore from the scolding he had been given for his conduct at the
Rotunda meeting, and missed no opportunity of scoffing--not, of course,
publicly, but among his friends--at Miss Goold and her volunteers.
Hyacinth avoided him as much as possible, but one evening he walked up
against him on the narrow footway at the corner of George's Street.
Halloran was delighted, and seized him by the arm.

'You're the very man I wanted to see,' he said. 'Have you heard about
Doherty?'

Hyacinth knew no one called Doherty. He said so, and tried to escape,
but Halloran held him fast.

'Not know