Walter stood silent for a moment.
"Wait, Larry," he said.
Larry turned, with a look of surprise upon his face.
"Come here," Walter said impatiently. "Of course I am anxious--though I
don't know how you could have guessed it."
"Sure yer honour," Larry said with an innocent look, "when a gentleman
like yourself is for ever walking and riding with a purty colleen, it
don't need much guessing to suppose that you would be worrying after her,
with such creatures as the Northerners and the furreners in her
neighbourhood."
"And you seriously think you could take a letter across to her, Larry?"
"Sure and I could, yer honour. The nights are dark, and I could get
across the river widout a sowl being the wiser, and make my way to the
stables, and give it to one of the boys, who will put it in the hands of
Bridget, Miss Claire's own maid; and I could go back, next night, for the
answer."
"But if you can do it, I can," Walter said.
"What would be the good, yer honour? It's only the outside of the house
you would see, and not the young lady. Besides, there's a lot more risk
in your doing it than there is with me. You are an officer of the king's,
and if you were caught on that side of the river, it's mighty little
trial they'd give you before they run you up to the bough of a tree, or
put a bullet into you.
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