“It needn’t,” laconically observes the Major. “These Jesuit gentry have often other motives than money for caging such birds in their convents. Was the girl good looking?” he asks after musing a moment.
“Well, of myself I never saw her. By Jack’s description she must have been a superb creature—on a par with the angels. True, a lover’s judgment is not much to be relied on, but I’ve heard from others, that Miss Morgan was really a rustic belle—something beyond the common.”
“Faith! and that may account for the whole thing. I know they like their nuns to be nice looking; prefer that stripe; I suppose, for purposes of proselytising, if nothing more. They’d give a good deal to receive the services of my own sister in that way; have been already bidding for her. By Heavens! I’d rather see her laid in her grave!”
The Major’s strong declaration is followed by a spell of silence; after which, cooling down a little, he continues—
“You’ve come, then, to inquire into this convent matter, about—what’s the girl’s name?—ah! Morgan.”
“More than the convent matter; though it’s in the same connection. I’ve come to learn what can be learnt about this priest; get his character, with his antecedents. And, if possible, obtain some information respecting the past lives of Mr Lewin Murdock and his French wife; for which I may probably go on to Paris, if not further. To sum up everything, I’ve determined to sift this mystery to the bottom—unravel it to its last thread. I’ve already commenced unwinding the clue, and made some little progress. But I want one to assist me. Like a lone hunter on a lost trail, I need counsel from a companion—and help too. You’ll stand by me, Mahon?”
“To the death, my dear boy! I was going to say the last shilling in my purse. As you don’t need that, I say, instead, to the last breath in my body!”
“You shall be thanked with the last in mine.”
“I’m sure of that. And now for a drop of the ‘crayther,’ to warm us to our work. Ho! there, Murt! bring in the ‘matayreals.’”
Which Murtagh does, the dinner-dishes having been already removed.