With this, he was a simple and devout Catholic;
loved on his holiday to serve the mass of some poor priest in a mountain
valley; and had more than once been known to carry off some lax
Catholic junior on his circuit to the performance of his Easter duties,
willy-nilly--by a mixture of magnetism and authority. For all games of
chance he had a perfect passion; would play whist all night, and conduct
a case magnificently all day. And although he was no sportsman in the
ordinary sense, having had no opportunities in a very penurious youth,
he had an Irishman's love of horseflesh, and knew the Derby winners from
the beginning with as much accuracy as Macaulay knew the Senior
Wranglers.
Yet the two men loved, respected, and understood each other. Diana
wondered secretly, indeed, whether Sir James could have explained to her
the bond between Ferrier and Lady Lucy. That, to her inexperience, was a
complete mystery! Almost every day Ferrier wrote to Tallyn, and twice a
week at least, as the letters were delivered at _table d'hote,_ Diana
could not help seeing the long pointed writing on the thin black-edged
paper which had once been for her the signal of doom.
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