“Miss Inglefield,” said Mr. Keegan, in no wise abashed.
“Well?”
“The lady herself told the master-at-arms, sir. He went up to the viller this evenin’ to see the seenora what does the cookin’ there, and came acrost the young lady herself as she was takin’ the air in the garden.”
Pennington resumed his pacing. There must be some mistake—certainly she could not have suggested such a thing. Such is the weight of prejudice, and such is the iron-bound custom which, even in a nineteenth century of enlightenment, prevents a woman from speaking her mind, that Mr. Keegan’s statement was divested of all probable truth by the idea that the proposition had come from Miss Inglefield. Pennington could not believe it.
“What did Miss Inglefield say to the master-at-arms, Keegan?” he asked a last.
“She said as all you had to do was to come up there to the back gate at half-past eleven, sir, and she’d be ready,” Mr. Keegan replied without hesitation.
By this time Morgan’s patience was exhausted.
“Don’t be a fool, Jack,” he said. “Can’t you see you’ve got all you can do now to get up there by half-past eleven? The girl has twice as much sand as you have.”
“If you don’t start now, sir,” put in Mr. Keegan, “there ain’t no use goin’ at all.”
“Keegan,” said Pennington,—and the coolness of his speech and the command of his voice struck both the others as he spoke,—“I have known you for nearly nine years now, and you are one of the best friends I have ever had. You have pulled me out of two or three tight places when I was younger, which I am not likely to forget. In those nine years you have never deceived me, and I do not think you capable of it; but from what I know of Miss Inglefield I think it more than probable that the master-at-arms has misunderstood her. I want to thank you for this, just the same.” Then, turning to Morgan, he continued: “Can’t you see, Dutchman, even if there is not a mistake, how impossible it would be to do what Keegan proposes to-night? Of course I shall wait for the next steamer now. But there are certain things to be thought of—all very necessary in their way, and very hard to get in two hours and a half.”