replied. "'Twas
Roger found it out.

"He is not here, hang it!" he said, his face falling a little. "We
could not keep him at home after you had gone, and now he's
carrying an ensign in the foot regiment of General Webb.

"Well, 'twas he found out all about you. Having set his heart on
going into the army, he must needs go into Shrewsbury to take
lessons in fencing from a Captain Galsworthy he had heard of. And
it appears that during his very first bout with the captain he
tried a botte that you had taught him. The captain drops his point,
and stares a moment, and then cries 'Ads my life! The only man in
the world that knows that botte besides myself is Humphrey Bold.
Where in the name of Beelzebub did you learn it?' And so it all
came out, and the whole story of the villainous doings of those
Cluddes and Lawyer Vetch--"

"Stay, sir," I interrupted; "Mr. Vetch is a very dear friend of
mine, and I would lay my life he is innocent of any share of the
trickery that lost me my father's lands."

"Maybe, maybe: I know the story of the will," said Mr. Allardyce.
"Roger was wild with excitement when he came back, and nothing
would satisfy him but that he must go to Bristowe and see if he
could learn any news of you. But he could learn nothing, and--"

"My dear," says Mistress Allardyce at this point, "you are keeping
us waiting so long. Lucy and I want to hear Mr. Bold."

"That's an extinguisher," cries he with a jolly laugh.

"Light my pipe, Lucy, my dear; it will last a good half hour, and
maybe that will be long enough for Mr. Bold's story."

But in truth he had smoked another couple of pipes before I had
finished, and gave no heed to Susan when she appeared at the door
and said that my meal was ready. I have heard that a speaker's
eloquence depends much upon his hearers and the bond of sympathy
betwixt him and them, and sure I spoke with a freedom that
surprised me. Certainly no man was ever better favored in his
audience; Mr. Allardyce let his pipe go out more than once. And the
ladies hung on my words, Mistress Lucy sitting forward in her
chair, her lips parted, her eyes kindling, and a ruddy glow
suffusing her cheeks. The room rang with Mr. Allardyce's laughter
when I described our march across country with the gagged
Frenchmen, and I vow I could almost hear the beating of Mistress
Lucy's heart as I told of our fight with Duguay-Trouin.

When I had ended my tale, Mr. Allardyce tugged at the bell rope,
crying