elf in scaling fortresses and capturing
guns. These things I know I could have performed magnificently, but
from the Earl I had learned that I was an ill man to conduct an affair
of the heart.

I do not know how long I meditated, but suddenly there was a great
tumult on the stairs near my door. There were the shouts and heavy
breathings of men, struggling, and over all rang a screech as from
some wild bird. I ran to the door and poked my head discreetly out;
for my coat and waistcoat were off as well as my sword, and I wished
to see the manner of tumult at a distance before I saw it close. As I
thrust forth my head I heard a familiar voice:

"And if ye come closer, ye old hell-cat, 'tis me will be forgetting
respect to my four great-grandmothers and braining you. Keep off! Am I
not giving ye the word? Keep off!"

Then another familiar voice answered him in a fine high fury. "And you
gallows-bird, you gallows-bird, you gallows-bird! You answer me, do
you! They're coming, all, even to the hangman! You'll soon know how to
dance without a fiddler! Ah, would you? Would you?"

If I had been afflicted with that strange malady of the body which
sometimes causes men to fall to the ground and die in a moment without
a word, my doom would have been sealed. It was Paddy and Hoity-Toity
engaged in animated discussion.

"And if ye don't mind your eye, ye old cormorant--" began Paddy.

"And you would be a highwayman, would you, gallows-bird--" began the
Countess.

"Cow--" began Paddy.

Here for many reasons I thought it time to interfere. "Paddy!" I
cried. He gave a glance at my door, recognized my face, and, turning
quickly, ran through into my chamber. I barred the door even as
Hoity-Toity's fist thundered on the oak.

"It's a she-wolf," gasped Paddy, his chest pressing in and out.

"And what did you do to her?" I demanded.

"Nothing but try to run away, sure," said Paddy.

"And why would she be scratching you?"

"She saw me for one of the highwaymen robbing the coach, and there was
I, devil knowing what to do, and all the people of the inn trying to
put peace upon her, and me dodging, and then--"

"Man," said I, grabbing his arm, "'tis a game that ends on the--"

"Never a bit," he interrupted composedly. "Wasn't the old witch drunk,
claws and all, and didn't even the great English lord, or whatever,
send his servant to bring her in, and didn't he, the big man, stand in
the door and spit on the floor and go in whe