"I honour the king," rejoined O'Connor, "as truly as any man here, seeing that my father lost all in the service of his illustrious sire, but I need some more satisfactory assurance of his delegated authority than the bare assertion of a violent man, of whom I know absolutely nothing, and until you show me some instrument empowering you to act thus, I will not acknowledge your competency to subject me to an examination, and still resolutely protest against your detaining me here."
"You refuse, then, to answer our questions?" said the hard-featured little person who sat at the far end of the table.
"Until you show authority to put them, I peremptorily do refuse to answer them," replied the young man.
The little person looked expressively at the priest, who appeared to hold a high influence among the party. He answered the look by saying,—
"His blood be upon his own head."
"Nay, not so fast, holy father; let us debate upon this matter for a few minutes, ere we execute sentence," said a singularly noble-looking man who stood beside the priest. "Remove the prisoner," he added, with a voice of command, "and keep him strictly guarded."
"Well, be it so," said he, reluctantly.
The little man who sat at the head of the table made a gesture to those who guarded O'Connor, and the order thus given and sanctioned was at once carried into execution.
CHAPTER XLIV.