Wogan sat down upon a corn-bin and waited while his mare was groomed and
fed. The mare looked round once or twice in the midst of her meal,
twisting her neck as far as her halter allowed.
"I am not gone yet, my lady," said he, "take your time."
Wogan made a ghostly figure in the dim shadowy light. His face was of an
extraordinary pallor; his teeth chattered; his eyes burned. Gaydon
looked at him with concern and said to the groom, "You can take the
saddles off. We shall need no horses to-night."
The four men returned to the house. Wogan went upstairs first. Gaydon
held back the other two at the foot of the stairs.
"Not a word, not a question, till he has eaten, or we shall have him in
bed for a twelvemonth. Misset, do you run for a doctor. O'Toole, see
what you can find in the larder."
Wogan sat before the fire without a word while O'Toole spread the table
and set a couple of cold partridges upon it and a bottle of red wine.
Wogan ate mechanically for a little and afterwards with some enjoyment.
He picked the partridges till the bones were clean, and he finished the
bottle of wine. Then he rose to his feet with a sigh of something very
like to contentment and felt along the mantel-shelf with his hands.
O'Toole, however, had foreseen his wants and handed him a pipe newly
filled. While Wogan was lighting the tobacco, Misset came back into the
room with word that the doctor was out upon his last rounds, but would
come as soon as he had returned home. The four men sat down about the
fire, and Wogan reached out his hand and felt O'Toole's arm.
"It is you," he said. "There you are, the three of you, my good friends,
and this is Schlestadt. But it is strange," and he laughed a little to
himself and looked about the room, assuring himself that this indeed was
Gaydon's lodging.
"You received a slip of paper?" said he.
"Four days back," said Gaydon.
"And understood?"
"That we were to be ready."
"Good."
"Then it's not a lottery," murmured O'Toole, "and we've drawn no
prizes."
"Ah, but we are going to," cried Wogan. "We are safe here. No one can
hear us; no one can burst in. But I am sure of that. Misset knows the
trick that will make us safe from interruption, eh?"