"I trust you were able to calm the poor lass?" he greeted me. "Stap me, what a sorry business! I'd never have chosen O'Donnell for a traveling companion, but without him I know not what to do. The whole venture——"
He shook his head and stared out the window beside him, clicking the lid of his snuffbox open and shut.
"But we have first to attend to the Walrus," he added presently. "I shall do so with the less reluctance after that last shot. The cursed luck of it! A beaten enemy's blow in the dark, blindfolded, by gad! And to think it must strike down of all men the one most essential to my schemes. I could— Well, well, no matter! We must triumph over the unexpected. 'Tis the chasm all great leaders must cross to win the final victory."
I found myself somehow instinctively hostile to his attitude.
"What have you done with Colonel O'Donnell?" I asked coldly.
"Peter carried him to his stateroom. We will give him decent burial when we return to the island. And perhaps some day we can come for him in state with a squadron of King's ships and bear him home to a grave in the land he was exiled from."
My great-uncle's spirits brightened noticeably as he contemplated the picture his words presented.
"Yes, yes," he murmured half to himself. "What O'Donnell could have done surely I can do. Our friends in Avignon will help. And Robert!"
He turned to me.
"Ah, my boy, this unfortunate incident is my best justification for pressing you in my cause. What should I do without you and Peter? 'Twill be for you two, with Mistress Moira, to establish our connections with the king's agents in France."