'Mr. Kelly bade you give these letters back to me at once,' she said; and then, with a great fervour of admiration, 'Mr. Kelly would have given them back to me at once.' It seemed as though the thought of the noble Mr. Kelly was the one thing which now enabled her to keep her faith in men. 'Very likely,' replied Montague coolly, who was not at all moved by the disparaging comparison of himself with the Parson. 'Mr. Kelly would have given them back to you at once had not your ladyship taken good care that a few locks and bars should hinder him. But I am not Mr. Kelly, and indeed it is well for your ladyship I am not. Had your ladyship betrayed _me_, why, when that pretty news-sheet was read out last night, I would have stood up before the whole company, and told boldly out how your ladyship came by the knowledge which gave you the power to betray me.' The words and the stern voice in which they were spoken stung Lady Oxford into a passion. She forgot to deny that she had betrayed Mr. Kelly. 'It would have been an infamy!' she cried. 'A harsh critic might say that it would have matched an infamy.' Her ladyship saw her mistake. 'There was nothing which Mr. Kelly could have said. Mr. Kelly was my friend, as I have told you frankly; but I did not betray him.' 'Your ladyship's livery is blue and silver, I think--a pretty notable livery even at night, as I had occasion to remark in Ryder Street.' Lady Oxford was put out of countenance. 'What am I to do to earn the packet which is mine?' she asked bitterly. 'The simplest thing imaginable. Your ladyship, I fear me, has not slept well. What say you to a little country air, with your humble servant for a companion? If your ladyship would order your carriage to be at your door in an hour's time we might take the air for a while together. On our return your ladyship will be refreshed for this evening's diversions, and I shall be the lighter by a packet of letters.' Lady Oxford did not know what to make of the Colonel's proposal, but she perforce consented to it. 'I obey your orders,' said she bitterly; and Montague went back to Wogan, whom he found sitting on the edge of the bed and disconsolately swinging his legs. 'I have a letter for you from Lord Sidney Beauclerk,' said Montague. It was a very polite letter, and assured Mr. Wogan that he would on no account fight with him in England; but would cut his throat somewhere in France with the greatest friendliness possible. 'Very well,' said Wogan, 'but I have to reach France first.' 'You will start in an hour's time,' said Montague. 'In broad daylight?' asked Wogan. 'And what of the ill wind and the sore throat that's like to come of it?' 'I have got a fine coat to protect the throat.' Montague went outside and cried down the stairs to know whether a parcel had been brought into the house. The parcel was carried upstairs into Mr. Wogan's room. The Colonel unwrapped it, and spread out on the bed a blue and silver livery.