“What indeed, my lord?”
The other laughed:
“By God,” said he—“you’re a wit.”
“T ask you to give me ten minutes’ close attention——”
“I will not give it.”
The old lawyer shrugged his shoulders:
“That is flat.... Then I must say it now and here. Your coachman yonder does not even suspect the truth. He has served you loyally through rain and sunshine and cold and heat for twenty and nine years. His loyalty blinds him to all but shame for the master of his house——”
The master of the house laughed roughly:
“Go on, Overshaw, go on—take sides with my grooms—go on. By the splendour of God, a most wondrous coachman!”
“But he will know it within twenty-four hours after leaving this place. God forgive me, he ought to know it now—from my lips. My loyalty to your house brings me near to compounding a felony.”