but
for a foreigner he had only the length of an eyelash."

"And what do you intend with the papers now, O'Ruddy?" said he.

"I intend as I intended," I replied. "There is no change in me."

"And your intentions?" said he.

"To give them into the hands of Lady Mary Strepp and no other," said I
boldly.

I looked at him. He looked at me.

"Lady Mary Strepp, my daughter," he said in ironic musing. "Would not
her mother do, O'Ruddy?" he asked softly.

I gave a start.

"She is not near?" I demanded, looking from here to there.

He laughed.

"Aye, she is. I can have her here to take the papers in one short
moment."

I held up my hands.

"No--no--"

"Peace," said he with a satanic chuckle. "I was only testing your
courage."

"My lord," said I gravely, "seeing a bare blade come at your breast is
one thing, and running around a table is another, and besides you have
no suitable table in this chamber."

The old villain laughed again.

"O'Ruddy," he cried, "I would be a well man if you were always near
me. Will I have a table fetched up from below?--'twould be easy."

Here I stiffened.

"My lord, this is frivolity," I declared. "I came here to give the
papers. If you do not care to take them in the only way in which I
will give them, let us have it said quickly."

"They seem to be safe in your hands at present," he remarked. "Of
course after you go to London and get a tutor--ahem!--"

"I will be starting at once," said I, "although Father Donovan always
told me that he was a good tutor as tutors went at the time in
Ireland. And I want to be saying now, my lord, that I cannot
understand you. At one moment you are crying one thing of the papers;
at the next moment you are crying another. At this time you are having
a laugh with me over them. What do you mean? I'll not stand this
shiver-shavering any longer, I'll have you to know. What do you mean?"

He raised himself among his cushions and fixed me with a bony finger.

"What do I mean? I'll tell you, O'Ruddy," said he, while his eyes
shone brightly. "I mean that I can be contemptuous of your plot. You
will not show these papers to any breathing creature because you are
in love with my daughter. Fool, to match your lies against an
ex-minister of the King."

My eyes must have almost dropped from my head, but as soon as I
recovered from my dumfounderment I grew amazed at the great intellect
of this man. I had told nobody, and yet he knew all about it. Y