"
Morley stamped on the ground with rage and despair. Then
seizing Mick by the hand he said, "You see this window; can
you by any means reach that roof?"
"One may as well lose one's neck that way," said Mick. "I'll
try."
"Off! If you land I will throw this box after you. Now mind;
take it to the convent at Mowbray and deliver it yourself from
me to Sybil Gerard. It is light; there are only papers in it;
but they will give her her own again, and she will not forget
you."
"Never mind that," said Mick. "I only wish I may live to see
her."
The tramp of the ascending troopers was heard.
"Good bye my hearties," said Mick, and he made the spring. He
seemed stunned, but he might recover. Morley watched him and
flung the box.
"And now," he said drawing a pistol, "we may fight our way
yet. I'll shoot the first man who enters, and then you must
rush on them with your bludgeons."
The force that had so unexpectedly arrived at this scene of
devastation was a troop of the yeomanry regiment of Lord
Marney. The strike in Lancashire and the revolt in the mining
districts had so completely drained this county of military,
that the lord lieutenant had insisted on Lord Marney quitting
his agricultural neighbourhood and quartering himself in the
region of factories.
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