"This will not do," resumed Cutts, as they sped fast down the lane; "why,
you never told me all the drawbacks. There are no less than four men in
the house--two servants besides the master and his secretary; and one of
those servants, the butler or valet, has firearms, and knows how to use
them."

"Pshaw!" said Jasper scoffingly; "is that all? Am I not a match for
four?"

"No, it is not all; you told me the master of the house was a retired
elderly man, and you mentioned his name. But you never told me that your
Mr. Darrell was the famous lawyer and Parliament man--a man about whom
the newspapers have been writing the last six months."

"What does that signify?"

"Signify! Just this, that there will be ten times more row about the
affair you propose than there would be if it concerned only a stupid
old country squire, and therefore ten times as much danger. Besides,
on principle I don't like to have anything to do with lawyers--
a cantankerous, spiteful set of fellows. And this Guy Darrell! Why,
General Jas., I have seen the man. He cross-examined me once when I was
a witness on a case of fraud, and turned me inside out with as much ease
as if I had been an old pincushion stuffed with bran. I think I see his
eye now, and I would as lief have a loaded pistol at my head as that eye
again fixed on mine."

"Pooh! You have brought a mask; and, besides, YOU need not see him; I
can face him alone."