"I feel bad enough," I said.
We shook hands in the carriage as the train pulled up at Stromore; on the platform we did not know each other.
I secured a car at once, and told the man to drive to the St. Alleyne Arms, and as we swung up the road from the station I looked back and saw his lordship coming slowly down the steps.
"Do ye know," asked my driver, "how long his lordship's come for?"
"His lordship!—whose lordship?"
"Lord St. Alleyne," he said, looking at me incredulously.
"What do I know about the man?" I asked. "Where is he?"
"He's there, sure, comin' down the shteps."
"Indeed," I said, and told the man to hurry, as I was cold.
I had no difficulty in securing the two rooms I wanted, and as I took possession of them I felt some of the pangs of a conspirator. I was also, as a matter of fact, quite sufficiently unwell to see things rather gloomily, and as I sat by my window after lunch, and looked out into the grey street, I confess that I wished myself engaged in a less dubious enterprise.