son.
The poor boy had been so long in California that he did not know how to
go about things. She urged him to join them in Rome for the visit to the
Pope, and sent her love to Honora and a bit of advice to Owen. When
Arthur arrived in Cruarig, whither a telegram had preceded him, he was
surprised to find Honora Ledwith in no way relieved of anxiety.

"You have nothing to do but pack your trunk and get away," he said.
"There is to be no trial, you know. Your father will go straight to the
steamer, and the government will pay his expenses. It ought to pay more
for the outrage."

She thanked him, but did not seem to be comforted. She made no comment,
and he went off to get an explanation from Captain Sydenham.

"I meant to have written you about it," said the Captain, "but hoped
that it would have come out all right without writing. Ledwith
maintains, and I think he's quite right, that he must be permitted to go
free without conditions, or be tried as a Fenian conspirator. The case
is simple: an American citizen traveling in Ireland is arrested on a
charge of complicity in the present rebellion; the government must prove
its case in a public trial, or, unable to do that, must release him as
an innocent man; but it does neither, for it leads him from jail to the
steamer as a suspect, ordering him out of the country. Ledwith demands
either a trial or the freedom of an innocent man. He will not help the
government out of the hole in which accident, his Excellency the
Minister, and your admirable mother have placed it. Of course it's hard
on that adorable Miss Ledwith, and it may kill Ledwith himself, if not
the two of them. Did you ever in your life see such a daughter and such
a father?"

"Well, all we can do is to make the trial as warm as possible for the
government," said Arthur. "Counsel, witnesses, publicity, telegrams to
the Minister, cablegrams to our Secretary of State, and all the rest of
it."

"Of no use," said the Captain moodily. "You have no idea of an Irish
court and an Irish judge in times of revolt. I didn't till I came here.
If Ledwith stands trial, nothing can save him from some kind of a
sentence."

"Then for his daughter's sake I must persuade him to get away."

"Hope you can. All's fair in war, you know, but Ledwith is the worst
kind of patriot, a visionary one, exalted, as the French say."

Ledwith thanked Arthur warmly when he called upon him in jail, and made
his explanation as the Captain