After he had thus continued to think for about a quarter of an hour, and had arrived at the point of doubting whether he was in fact Julius C[ae]sar or Alexander the Great, with some slight suspicion that he might be neither, but Henry IV. of France instead, he opened the door quietly, and, without taking the candle, advanced to the head of the stairs, where, bending down his head, he listened for a moment. There was a dull, heavy sound of people talking, however; and a man's voice was heard, though the words he used could not be made out. "Ay, that d--d fellow is there still!" murmured Captain Barecolt: "if he does not go soon, I'll walk down and cut his throat." But, just as he was turning to go back to his own room, he heard the door of the little parlour--which, as it closed with a pulley and weight, announced its movements by a prodigious rattle--give indications of its being opened, and the voice of Mr. O'Donnell could be distinguished, as he marched out, saying-- "The first thing to be done, however, Mrs. White, is to get her out of this man's hands." Captain Barecolt waited till the Irishman's footsteps sounded no longer in the hall, and then, walking downstairs, proceeded straight into the little parlour, and, much to the astonishment of Mrs. White, seated himself before her, saying in good plain English-- "I think so too, Mrs. White." "Lord, sir! what do you mean?" asked the worthy landlady. "I mean, the first thing is, to get her out of this man's hands, Mrs. White. So now let me have some supper, and I will tell you all about it." "Dear me, sir! Why, this is very funny," replied the landlady, with an agitated smoothing of the table-cloth, and a tremulous arranging of the jugs and plates; "I didn't know that any one heard what the gentleman said." "But I did, though, Mrs. White," replied Barecolt, "loud words will always catch long ears." "Why, Lord, sir, you speak as good English as I do!" said Mrs. White. "To be sure I do," answered Barecolt; "I should be a fool if I didn't. But now, my good lady, tell me if I can trust you; for, although my own life is a thing that I care nothing about, and is risked every day wherever it can be risked by shot and steel, in the breach and in the field, there is much more to be perilled by anything like rashness than such a trifle as that. There's this young lady's safety and liberty, and I can tell you that there are a great many very high people who would give no light reward to those who would set her free from this base caitiff who has got her." "Dear me!" cried Mrs. White; "I wish I had known that before, for here have we been talking of nothing else for the last hour, Mr. O'Donnell and I. Do you know who she is, sir?"