have no thought of hurting you - leastways, not yet." He
paused in the act of breaking the seal. "Lest you should
treasure uncomfortable delusions, dear Master Stewart, let me
remind you that I am an Irishman - not a fool. Do you conceive
my fame to be so narrow a thing that when I left the beggarly
army of King Charles for that of the Commonwealth, I did not
realize how at any moment I might come face to face with
someone who had heard of my old exploits, and would denounce
me? You do not find me masquerading under an assumed name. I
am here, sir, as Harry Hogan, a sometime dissolute follower of
the Egyptian Pharaoh, Charles Stuart; an erstwhile besotted,
blinded soldier in the army of the Amalekite, a whilom erring
malignant, but converted by a crowning mercy into a zealous,
faithful servant of Israel. There were vouchsafings and
upliftings, and the devil knows what else, when this stray lamb
was gathered to the fold."

He uttered the words with a nasal intonation, and a whimsical
look at Kenneth.

"Now, Mr. Stewart, tell them what you will, and they will tell
you yet more in return, to show you how signally the light of
grace hath been shed over me."

He laughed again, and broke the seal. Kenneth, crestfallen and
abashed, watched him, without attempting further interference.
Of what avail?

"You had been better advised, young sir, had you been less
hasty and anxious. It is a fatal fault of youth's, and one of