As I conjured up the picture of that proud head bowed low in sorrow, I laughed aloud in my exultation. Then my eyes encountered those of the owner of the hut, who still remained in the same attitude, suspiciously regarding me, and I came back to earth with a sudden start.
“Pshaw!” I said contemptuously. “I will do you no hurt, man! See, I am in a merry mood!—a right merry mood!” And again I laughed exultantly.
“Aye,” he muttered, crossing himself, “but ’tis merriment that is not good to hear.”
I paid no further attention to him, but bent low over my companion’s prostrate form and looked long and earnestly in his face. Now I understood at a glance the likeness to some one that at our first meeting had so puzzled me; now on a sudden I remembered of whom the voice and manners had reminded me. Surely I had been blind not to see before the likeness to my lady. Even as I gazed at him the colour returned slightly to his cheeks, and his lips parted in a scarcely audible sigh. I sank on one knee beside him and threw open his riding coat. Had I needed corroboration of the fisherman’s words, I received it then, and the mystery as to why he had retained his coat in the cabin was at once made clear. For beneath it he was clad in a suit of violet-coloured velvet and his breast glittered with the insignia of some half dozen orders, among which my eyes fell upon the blue ribbon of the Garter and the Order of St. Louis. The hilt of his sword, too, which had been concealed before by his outer coat, was thickly studded with jewels, though the blade itself was of the finest Toledo steel, as I speedily discovered when I essayed to test it. This latter weapon I did not hesitate to appropriate for my own use, and it was with a sigh of satisfaction that I fastened it to my side; for ’tis wonderful what a feeling of security may be given to a man by the possession of three feet of good honest steel.
Oh, it was all clear to me now—clear as daylight! As James’s most trusted councillor, having great influence in Devonshire and the adjacent counties, he had been hurriedly dispatched by his master to create a diversion in his favour by heading a general rising of the Jacobites throughout the West. By which means James relied upon William withdrawing some of his veteran troops from Ireland to quell it. That it was a plan hurriedly formed and as hurriedly executed was plain, seeing that the earl had not had time to don any disguise ere proceeding on board. I bade my unwilling host bring water, and with this I bathed my companion’s wound and again adjusted the bandage.
“He will do now,” I said briefly to my host, who had drawn slowly near, watching the proceedings with marked attention. “Leave me to think, my friend!”
He drew back at that into a corner of the hut and stood furtively regarding me, whilst I seated myself upon the stool at my patient’s side and rapidly reflected how best I could profit by this unexpected development. For some little time I remained buried in thought, reviewing in all its details a scheme which gradually increased in favour with me the more I conned it. With so much satisfaction did it present itself to my mind that my breath grew quicker at the thought, and I moistened my dry lips in pleasurable anticipation. Indeed, so absorbed was I in my own thoughts that it was with a start of genuine surprise I heard from without the sharp clink of a hoof striking against a stone, with the sound of a hearty oath. I sprang to my feet and laid my hand upon my sword. I had my own reasons for not desiring any company at that moment.
“The door, fool!” I cried to the old man, as there came the sound of footsteps without and the jingle of harness. “Bar the door!”
But it was too late. Even as the words left my lips, and as he moved to execute my bidding, on a sudden the door was flung open, and a harsh voice cried: “Within there! Can’st tell me how far it is to—Cassilis?” I think that an oath rose to my lips also; for there, framed in the doorway, with his rein slung upon his arm, stood the man of all others that I least desired to see.
“De Brito!” I cried when I had recovered from my surprise. “What brings you here?”