Chapter 26 - Page 2

I would not offer him, for he affects to spurn
their use."

Griffith smiled, and bowed in silence to the liberal compliment of
Borroughcliffe; but Manual took on himself the task of replying:

"Considering the drilling the man has received, the conduct has been
well enough, sir; though a well-trained soldier would not only have made
prisoners, but he would have secured them."

"I perceive, my good comrade, that your thoughts are running on the
exchange," said Borroughcliffe, good-humoredly; "we will fill, sir, and,
by permission of the ladies, drink to a speedy restoration of rights to
both parties--the status quo ante bellum!"

"With all my heart!" cried the colonel; "and Cicely and Miss Katherine
will pledge the sentiment in a woman's sip; will ye not, my fair wards?
--Mr. Griffith, I honor this proposition of yours, which will not only
liberate yourself, but restore to us my kinsman, Mr. Christopher Dillon.
Kit had imagined the thing well; ha! Borroughcliffe! 'twas ingeniously
contrived, but the fortune of war interposed itself to his success; and
yet it is a deep and inexplicable mystery to me, how Kit should have
been conveyed from the abbey with so little noise, and without raising
the alarm."

"Christopher is a man who understands the philosophy of silence, as well
as that of rhetoric," returned Borroughcliffe, "and must have learned in
his legal studies, that it is sometimes necessary to conduct matters sub
silentio. You smile at my Latin, Miss Plowden; but really, since I have
become an inhabitant of this monkish abode, my little learning is
stimulated to unwonted efforts--nay, you are pleased to be yet more
merry! I used the language, because silence is a theme in which you
ladies take but little pleasure."

Katherine, however, disregarded the slight pique that was apparent in
the soldier's manner; but, after following the train of her own thoughts
in silent enjoyment for a moment longer, she seemed to yield to their
drollery, and laughed until her dark eyes flashed with merriment.
Cecilia did not assume the severe gravity with which she sometimes
endeavored to repress, what she thought, the unseasonable mirth of her
cousin; and the wondering Griffith fancied, as he glanced his eye from
one to the other, that he could discern a suppressed smile playing among
the composed features of Alice Dunscombe. Katherine, however, soon
succeeded in repressing the paroxysm, and, with an air of infinitely
comic gravity, she replied to the remark of the soldier:

"I think I have heard of such a process in nautical affairs as towing;
but I must appeal to Mr. Griffith for the correctness of the term."