"Surely, sir, you will now allow me to proceed," cried Kenneth. "I a.s.sure you the matter is of the greatest urgency, and unless I am in London by midnight I shall be too late."
"Too late for what?" asked Hogan.
"I--I don"t know."
"Oh?" The Irishman laughed unpleasantly. Colonel Pride and he were on anything but the best of terms. The colonel knew him for a G.o.dless soldier of fortune bound to the Parliament"s cause by no interest beyond that of gain; and, himself a zealot, Colonel Pride had with distasteful frequency shown Hogan the quality of his feelings towards him. That Hogan was not afraid of him, was because it was not in Hogan"s nature to be afraid of anyone. But he realized at least that he had cause to be, and at the present moment it occurred to him that it would be pa.s.sing sweet to find a flaw in the old Puritan"s armour. If the package were harmless his having opened it was still a matter that the discharge of his duty would sanction. Thus he reasoned; and he resolved to break the seal and make himself master of the contents of that letter.
Hogan"s unpleasant laugh startled Kenneth. It suggested to him that perhaps, after all, his delay was by no means at an end; that Hogan suspected him of something--he could not think of what.
Then in a flash an idea came to him.
"May I speak to you privately for a moment, Captain Hogan?" he inquired in such a tone of importance--imperiousness, almost--that the Irishman was impressed by it. He scented disclosure.
"Faith, you may if you have aught to tell me," and he signed to Beddoes and his companion to withdraw.
"Now, Master Hogan," Kenneth began resolutely as soon as they were alone, "I ask you to let me go my way unmolested. Too long already has the stupidity of your followers detained me here unjustly. That I reach London by midnight is to me a matter of the gravest moment, and you shall let me."
"Soul of my body, Mr. Stewart, what a spirit you have acquired since last we met."
"In your place I should leave our last meeting unmentioned, master turncoat."
The Irishman"s eyebrows shot up.
"By the Ma.s.s, young c.o.c.kerel, I mislike your tone--"
"You"ll have cause to dislike it more if you detain me." He was desperate now. "What would your saintly, crop-eared friends say if they knew as much of your past history as I do?"
"Tis a matter for conjecture," said Hogan, humouring him.
"How think you would they welcome the story of the roystering rake and debauchee who deserted the army of King Charles because they were about to hang him for murder?"
"Ah! how, indeed?" sighed Hogan.
"What manner of reputation, think you, that for a captain of the G.o.dly army of the Commonwealth?"
"A vile one, truly," murmured Hogan with humility.
"And now, Mr. Hogan," he wound up loftily, "you had best return me that package, and be rid of me before I sow mischief enough to bring you a crop of hemp."
Hogan stared at the lad"s flushed face with a look of whimsical astonishment, and for a brief spell there was silence between them.
Slowly then, with his eyes still fixed upon Kenneth"s, the captain unsheathed a dagger. The boy drew back, with a sudden cry of alarm.
Hogan vented a horse-laugh, and ran the blade under the seal of Ashburn"s letter.
"Be not afraid, my man of threats," he said pleasantly. "I have no thought of hurting you--leastways, not yet." He paused in the act of breaking the seal. "Lest you should treasure uncomfortable delusions, dear Master Stewart, let me remind you that I am an Irishman--not a fool. Do you conceive my fame to be so narrow a thing that when I left the beggarly army of King Charles for that of the Commonwealth, I did not realize how at any moment I might come face to face with someone who had heard of my old exploits, and would denounce me? You do not find me masquerading under an a.s.sumed name. I am here, sir, as Harry Hogan, a sometime dissolute follower of the Egyptian Pharaoh, Charles Stuart; an erstwhile besotted, blinded soldier in the army of the Amalekite, a whilom erring malignant, but converted by a crowning mercy into a zealous, faithful servant of Israel. There were vouchsafings and upliftings, and the devil knows what else, when this stray lamb was gathered to the fold."
He uttered the words with a nasal intonation, and a whimsical look at Kenneth.
"Now, Mr. Stewart, tell them what you will, and they will tell you yet more in return, to show you how signally the light of grace hath been shed over me."
He laughed again, and broke the seal. Kenneth, crestfallen and abashed, watched him, without attempting further interference. Of what avail?
"You had been better advised, young sir, had you been less hasty and anxious. It is a fatal fault of youth"s, and one of which nothing but time--if, indeed, you live--will cure you. Your anxiety touching this package determines me to open it."
Kenneth sneered at the man"s conclusions, and, shrugging his shoulders, turned slightly aside.
"Perchance, master wiseacres, when you have read it, you will appreciate how egotism may also lead men into fatal errors. Haply, too, you will be able to afford Colonel Pride some satisfactory reason for tampering with his correspondence."
But Hogan heard him not. He had unfolded the letter, and at the first words he beheld, a frown contracted his brows. As he read on the frown deepened, and when he had done, an oath broke from his lips. "G.o.d"s life!" he cried, then again was silent, and so stood a moment with bent head. At last he raised his eyes, and let them rest long and searchingly upon Kenneth, who now observed him in alarm.
"What--what is it?" the lad asked, with hesitancy.
But Hogan never answered. He strode past him to the door, and flung it wide.
"Beddoes!" he called. A step sounded in the pa.s.sage, and the sergeant appeared. "Have you a trooper there?"
"There is Peter, who rode with me."
"Let him look to this fellow. Tell him to set him under lock and bolt here in the inn until I shall want him, and tell him that he shall answer for him with his neck."
Kenneth drew back in alarm.
"Sir--Captain Hogan--will you explain?"
"Marry, you shall have explanations to spare before morning, else I"m a fool. But have no fear, for we intend you no hurt," he added more softly. "Take him away, Beddoes; then return to me here."
When Beddoes came back from consigning Kenneth into the hands of his trooper, he found Hogan seated in the leathern arm-chair, with Ashburn"s letter spread before him on the table.
"I was right in my suspicions, eh?" ventured Beddoes complacently.
"You were more than right, Beddoes, you were Heaven-inspired. It is no State matter that you have chanced upon, but one that touches a man in whom I am interested very nearly."
The sergeant"s eyes were full of questions, but Hogan enlightened him no further.
"You will ride back to your post at once, Beddoes," he commanded.
"Should Lord Oriel fall into your hands, as we hope, you will send him to me. But you will continue to patrol the road, and demand the business of all comers. I wish one Crispin Galliard, who should pa.s.s this way ere long, detained, and brought to me. He is a tall, lank man--"
"I know him, sir," Beddoes interrupted. "The Tavern Knight they called him in the malignant army--a rakeh.e.l.ly, dissolute brawler. I saw him in Worcester when he was taken after the fight."
Hogan frowned. The righteous Beddoes knew overmuch. "That is the man,"
he answered calmly. "Go now, and see that he does not ride past you. I have great and urgent need of him."
Beddoes" eyes were opened in surprise.
"He is possessed of valuable information," Hogan explained. "Away with you, man."
When alone, Harry Hogan turned his arm-chair sideways towards the fire.
Then, filling himself a pipe--for in his foreign campaigning he had acquired the habit of tobacco-smoking--he stretched his sinewy legs across a second chair, and composed himself for meditation. An hour went by; the host looked in to see if the captain required anything. Another hour sped on, and the captain dozed.
He awoke with a start. The fire had burned low, and the hands of the huge clock in the corner pointed to midnight. From the pa.s.sage came to him the sound of steps and angry voices.