"That's just the sort of thing he would do. Any man of ordinary good feeling would have known that when he was knocked down he was meant to stay down." "Then the two other men who were with me, young fellows out of the town, set on him." "Was one of them particularly freckly?" I asked. "I didn't notice. Why do you ask?" "If he was it would account for my daughter's maid getting hold of an inaccurate version of the story this morning. But it doesn't matter. Go on with what you were saying." "There isn't any more," said Bob. "They hammered him, and then we carried him home. That's all." "I am going down to see him now," I said. "He's thinking of taking further action." "Let him," said Bob. "Is Miss D'Aubigny at home?" "Yes, she is. If you're going up to see her--" "I would," said Bob, "if I thought she wouldn't be angry with me." "She's nervous," I said, "and excited; but she didn't seem angry." Just outside the town I met Crossan and, very much to my surprise, McNeice walking with him. Crossan handed me a letter. I put it into my pocket and greeted McNeice. "I did not know you were here," I said. "When did you come?" "Last night," said McNeice. "Crossan brought me on his motor." "Were you in time for the scrimmage?" "You'd maybe better read the letter I've given you, my lord," said Crossan. "If I'd been there," said McNeice, "your nephew would probably be dead now. In my opinion he ought to be." "The letter I've just given your lordship," said Crossan, "is an important one." "I'm sure it is," I said. "But I haven't time to read it now." "What's in it, my lord, is this. I'm resigning the management of your business here, and the sooner you're suited with a new man the better." "If my nephew Godfrey has been worrying you, Crossan," I said, "I'll take steps--" "It's not that, my lord. For all the harm his talk ever did me I'd stay on. But--" He looked at McNeice as if asking permission to say more. "Political business," said McNeice. "Of course," I said, "if it's a matter of politics, everything must give way to politics. But I'm very sorry to lose you, Crossan. My business affairs--" "You'll have no business affairs left, my lord, if the Home Rule Bill passes." "But you're going to stop it," I said. "We are," said Crossan. He certainly believed that he was. At the present moment he believes that he did stop it. I found Godfrey propped up in bed. His face had a curiously unbalanced appearance owing to the way in which one side of his jaw was swollen. Bob Power's original blow must have been a hard one. I noticed when he spoke that one of his eye teeth was broken off short. He began to pour out his complaint the moment I entered the room. "A murderous assault was made on me last night," he said. "After I left your house I walked down--" "Don't talk if it hurts you, Godfrey," I said. He was speaking in a muffled way which led me to think that the inside of his mouth must be nearly as much swollen as the outside.