Upon this note he clapt a large seal with the Toole arms, and when it
was complete, placed it in the hands of Katty, who, with her riding-hood
on and her head within it teeming with all sorts of wild conjectures and
horrible images, and her whole soul in a whirl of curiosity, hurried
along the dark street, now and then glinted on by a gleam through a
shutter, or enlivened by the jingle of a harpsichord, or a snatch of
talk and laughter heard faintly through the windows, and along the
Dublin-road to the gate of the King's House. The hall-door of this
hospitable mansion stood open, and a flood of red candle-light fell upon
one side of the gray horse, saddle, and holster pipes, which waited the
descent of Mr. Lowe, who was shaking hands with the hospitable colonel
at the threshold.
Katty was just in time, and the booted gentleman, in his surtout and
cape, strode back again into the light of the hall-door, and breaking
the seal, there read, with his clear cold eye, the lines which Toole had
pencilled, and thrusting it into his coat pocket, and receiving again
the fuddled butler's benedictions--he had given him half-a-crown--he
mounted his gray steed, and at a brisk trot, followed by his servant,
was, in little more than two minutes' time, at Dr.
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