l be a wonder, I'm thinking myself," answered the boy,
unsteadily.

And then, the bandage made and adjusted, Johan offered his shoulder to
assist the wounded man into the saddle. But Lindley, pressing heavily
yet tenderly against the lad, said gently:

"I've been rough, Johan, but believe me, this night's work will stand
you in good stead. Hereafter your play acting may be a matter of
choice, but never again of necessity."

"Heaven grant that the necessity will never again be so great!"
murmured Johan, indistinctly.

"I--I did not understand," faltered Lindley, reaching the saddle with
difficulty.

"I said--why I said," stammered Johan, "Heaven be praised that there
would be no more necessity for play acting."

Arrived at The Jolly Grig, Master Marmaduke Bass' perturbed face boded
ill for his surgical skill.

"Hast heard the news, my master?" he cried, before he saw the
condition of his guest. "Ah, Mr. Lindley, 'tis about a friend of your
own, too--a friend who was with you here not a week ago."

"I--I care not for your news, whatever it may be, whomever it may be
about," groaned Lindley, who was near the end of his endurance.

"Master Lindley's met with highwaymen," interrupted Johan. "Perchance
'tis the Black Devil himself. He's wounded and has need of your skill,
not of your news."

"Met with my Lord Farquhart!" cried honest Marmaduke. "But that's
impossible. My Lord Farquhart's been in prison these twelve hours and
more, denounced by his cousin, the Lady Barbara Gordon!"

It would have been hard to say which was the whiter, Master Lindley or
Johan, the player's boy. It would have been difficult to distinguish
between their startled voices.

"Lord Farquhart! In prison!"

"Ay, Lord Farquhart. The Black Devil. The Black Highwayman. Denounced
at a festival at my Lord Grimsby's by the Lady Barbara Gordon."

XIII.

The worthy Marmaduke's gossip was indeed true, for as strange a thing
as that had really happened. Lady Barbara Gordon, in open company, had
announced that she knew positively that Lord Farquhart was no other
than the Black Highwayman who for a twelvemonth had been terrorizing
the roads round about London town. He had confessed it to her,
himself, she said. She had seen him guised as the highwayman. Mr.
Ashley, the Lady Barbara's escort at the moment, had corroborated her
statements, vouchsafing on his own account that he had been with the
Lady Barbara when Lord Farquhart's servants had re