THE LOVE OF MONSIEUR
in possession of his senses that, with a manner all his own, he roused the master of the house from his bed and bade him set out a cold pâté and two bottles of wine in the back room upstairs against the coming of the Irishman. Nor had he long to wait, for Captain Cornbury, flushed and breathless, soon burst into the room. When he saw Mornay his face relaxed in a look of relief.
“Egad! ye’re here,” he said. “’Twixt this and that I’ve had a thousand doubts about ye. For the present, then, ye’re safe.”
Mornay pushed a bench towards him.
“Then Ferrers has—”
“Ferrers and Dorset—I’ faith, between them they’ve raised the divil. And Captain Ferrers—by the ten holy fingers of the Pope! there was a fine notary spoiled when Ferrers took service with the King. For all the lyin’ scoundrels—”
“He accused me?”
“Egad! he swore you were the head and foot of the whole business—”
“Tonnerre de Dieu! And the Duke?”
“I raged and swore to no purpose. Dorset
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