“God help him if they catch him!” my Lord exclaimed. “You should see the bloody piratical portraits they are scattering over London.”
“Has the risk you ran getting me into England ever occurred to you, Jack?” I asked, with some curiosity.
“Faith, not until the day after we got back, Richard,” says he, “when I met Mr. Attorney General on the street. 'Sdeath, I turned and ran the other way like the devil was after me. For Charles Fox vows that conscience makes cowards of the best of us.”
“So that is some of Charles's wisdom!” I cried, and laughed until I was forced to stop from pain.
“Come, my hearty,” says Jack, “you owe me nothing for fishing you out of Holland—that is her debt. But I declare that you must one day pay me for saving her for you. What! have I not always sworn that she loved you? Did I not pull you into the coffee-room of the Star and Garter years ago, and tell you that same?”
My face warmed, though I said nothing.
“Oh, you sly dog! I'll warrant there has been many a tender talk just where I'm sitting.”
“Not one,” said I.
“'Slife, then, what have you been doing,” he cries, “seeing her every day and not asking her to marry you, my master of Carvel Hall?”
“Since I am permitted to use my tongue, she has not come near me, save when I slept,” I answered ruefully.