"
The ice of his scorn did not chill the strange emotion which seemed to have
entered the air. The scarecrow by the fire had won a kind of dignity.
"I am going," he said. "Will you have the goodness to send for my horse? .
. . If you care to know, gentleman, you have cut short a promising career.
. . To much of what you say I submit. You have spoken truth--not all the
truth, but sufficient to unman me. I am a rogue by your reckoning, for I
think only of my wages. Pray tell me what moves you to ride out on what at
the best is a desperate venture?"
There was nothing but sincerity in the voice, and Talbot answered.
"I fight for the King ordained by God and for a land which cannot flourish
under the usurper. My loyalty to throne, Church, and fatherland constrains
me."
Lovel's eye passed to Lord Charles. The Highlander whistled very softly a
bar or two of a wild melody with longing and a poignant sorrow in it.
"That," he said. "I fight for the old ways and the old days that are passing."
Nick Wogan smiled.
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