andard_; when it is known that the
Lord-Lieutenant's secretary has turned Fenian,' said Kilgobbin, 'won't
there be a grand Tory out-cry over the unprincipled Whigs?'

'The papers need know nothing whatever of the incident,' interposed Curtis
anxiously, 'if old Flood is not busy enough to inform them.'

'Who is old Flood?' asked Walpole.

'A Tory J.P., who has copied out a considerable share of your
correspondence,' said Kilgobbin.

'And four letters in a lady's hand,' added Dick, 'that he imagines to be a
treasonable correspondence by symbol.'

'I hope Mr. Walpole,' said Kate, 'will rather accept felony to the law than
falsehood to the lady.'

'You don't mean to say--' began Walpole angrily; then correcting his
irritable manner, he added, 'Am I to suppose my letters have been read?'

'Well, roughly looked through,' said Curtis. 'Just a glance here and there
to catch what they meant.'

'Which I must say was quite unnecessary,' said Walpole haughtily.

'It was a sort of journal of yours,' blundered out Curtis, who had a most
unhappy knack of committing himself, 'that they opened first, and they saw
an entry with Kilgobbin Castle at the top of it, and the date last July.'

'There was nothing political in that, I'm sure,' said Walpole.

'No, not exactly, but a trifle rebellious, all the same; the words, "We
this evening learned a Fenian song, 'The time to begin,' and rather suspect
it is time to leave off; the Greek better-looking than ever, and more
dangerous."'

Curtis's last words were drowned in the laugh that now shook the table;
indeed, except Walpole and Nina herself, they actually roared with
laughter, which burst out afresh, as Curtis, in his innocence, said, 'We
could not make out about the Greek, but we hoped we'd find out later on.'

'And I fervently trust you did,' said Kilgobbin.

'I'm afraid not; there was something about somebody called Joe, that the
Greek wouldn't have him, or disliked him, or snubbed him--indeed, I forget
the words.'

'You are quite right, sir, to distrust your memory,' said Walpole; 'it has
betrayed you most egregiously already.'

'On the contrary,' burst in Kilgobbin, 'I am delighted with this proof of
the captain's acuteness; tell us something more, Curtis.'

'There was then, "From the upper castle yard, Maude," whoever Maude is,
"says, 'Deny it all, and say you never were there,' not so easy as she
thinks, with a broken right arm, and a heart not quite so whole as it