Even when my Lord Sayle, reeling like a drunken man, was half led, half carried out by his friends, the company rocked and howled, hooted and groaned, slapped themselves and each other, wailing in faint, cracked voices: thus their Gargantuan laughter waxed and grew until came the drawers to peep and gape; until pedestrians in the street below paused to stare and wonder. “O Jack ... O Jack!” wailed Captain Armitage. “Hold me ... hit me, a mercy’s name.... Sayle ... vowing to ha’ y’r blood and ... clutching at a cane that ... wasn’t there!... Swearing hell and fury and dancing ... like a ... dem’d marionette! O Lord! ‘Begotten to be a shadow,’ says you!... ‘We’ll make it your ... right leg ... next time!’ Oh, rat me, Jack!...” “By heaven,” gasped the mild gentleman, “here’s a tale! Every coffee-house will be ... cackling with’t. My lord’s loved none too well ... first on one leg, then ... on t’other....” Presently, taking advantage of the general uproar, Sir John hasted to retire, followed by the Captain, still breathless but eager. “Ha’ ye any other bears to bait, Jack?” he inquired as they descended to the street. “Not at present, Tom.” “So much the worse,” the Captain sighed. “Howbeit, I’ll not part with thee; we’ll see the night out together. First, dinner at the Piazza, and then——” “Thank’ee no, Tom! I’ve affairs——” “Aha—is she very fair?” “I’m a man o’ business, Tom, and am in town for but a short time.” “Why, then, where are ye living, Jack?” “At High Dering.” “Good Ged—the country!” exclaimed Captain Armitage, visibly shocked. “And y’ are going back again to rusticate—you, of all men!” “Immediately.” “Cabbages and mangold-wurzels!” murmured the Captain. “Amazing! Unless—aha, some rustic nymph, perchance—some village Venus, eh, Jack?” “Nay, Tom, smugglers and an ancient witch, rather. But what do you do these days?” “Naught i’ the world since I inherited save play the fool generally and make love to ‘the Barrasdaile,’ as the fashion is. And——” “Sounds lamentably dreary, Tom.” “It is, Jack, it is!” sighed the Captain. “One wearies of everything, and ‘the Barrasdaile’ hath no heart! And, talking of her, she flammed and tricked thee finely, it seems!” “She did, Tom. You’ve heard the tale, then?” “Aye, Jack, who hasn’t? ’Twill be all over town by this, i’ faith, but your ears should tingle, for ’twas demnably against you! Disguised, Jack ... dressed in her woman’s clothes and you all unsuspecting, ha-ha!” “And ’twas she told you, was it?” “Herself, Jack, this afternoon just before you made your dem’d dramatic appearance. And, rat me, but ’twas pure! She had us all roaring with laughter at thy expense, old lad ... demme, even the women forgot to be scandalised. To ha’ flammed you of all men! She must ha’ played the country innocent marvellous well!” “She must indeed, Tom.” “Ye see, Jack, she never forgives——” “A bad habit, Tom!” “Aye!” nodded the Captain. “And ’tis plain to see she hates thee—even yet!”