Page:Oruddy Romance - Crane and Barr.djvu/328

318 haste at this moment, and we must ride fast, so I 'll just bid good-bye to you here at this comfortable spot, and you 'll sit down at your ease in that big arm-chair."

"I 'll do nothing of the kind, O'Ruddy. What 's troubling you, man? and why are you in such a hurry this morning, when you said nothing of it yesterday?"

"Father, I said nothing of it yesterday, but sure I acted it. See how we rode on and on in spite of everything, and did the whole journey from London to Rye between breakfast and supper. Did n't that give you a hint that I was in a hurry?" "Well, it should have done, it should have done, O'Ruddy; still, I 'll go a bit of the way with you and not delay you."

"But we intend to ride very fast, Father."

"Ah, it 's an old man you 're thinking I 'm getting to be. Troth, I can ride as fast as any one of the three of you, and a good deal faster than Paddy."

At this moment the landlord came bustling in.

"Your Reverence's horse is ready," he said.

And so there was nothing for it but to knock the old man down, which I had n't the heart to do. It is curious how stubborn some people are; but Father Donovan was always set in his ways, and so, as we rode out of Rye to the west, with Paddy and Jem following us, I had simply to tell his Reverence all about it, and you should have seen the consternation on his countenance.

"Do you mean to tell me you propose to take possession of another man's house and fight him if he comes to claim his own?"

"I intend that same thing, your Reverence;" for now I was as stubborn as the old gentleman himself,