He then pulled off his hat, making his Lordship a low bow, and entered the carriage; the door of which was shut upon him by his confederate, who was to mount the box.  Miss Kiljoy might have screamed; but I presume her shrieks were stopped by the sight of an enormous horse-pistol which one of her champions produced, who said, ’No harm is intended you, ma’am, but if you cry out, we must gag you;’ on which she suddenly became as mute as a fish.

All these events took place in an exceedingly short space of time; and when the three invaders had taken possession of the carriage, the poor little Bullingdon being left bewildered and astonished on the heath, one of them putting his head out of the window, said,—­

‘My Lord, a word with you.’

‘What is it?’ said the boy, beginning to whimper:  he was but eleven years old, and his courage had been excellent hitherto.

’You are only two miles from Marino.  Walk back till you come to a big stone, there turn to the right, and keep on straight till you get to the high-road, when you will easily find your way back.  And when you see her Ladyship your mamma, give captain THUNDER’S compliments, and say Miss Amelia Kiljoy is going to be married.’

‘O heavens!’ sighed out that young lady.

The carriage drove swiftly on, and the poor little nobleman was left alone on the heath, just as the morning began to break.  He was fairly frightened; and no wonder.  He thought of running after the coach; but his courage and his little legs failed him:  so he sat down upon a stone and cried for vexation.

It was in this way that Ulick Brady made what I call a Sabine marriage.  When he halted with his two groomsmen at the cottage where the ceremony was to be performed, Mr. Runt, the chaplain, at first declined to perform it.  But a pistol was held at the head of that unfortunate preceptor, and he was told, with dreadful oaths, that his miserable brains would be blown out; when he consented to read the service.  The lovely Amelia had, very likely, a similar inducement held out to her, but of that I know nothing; for I drove back to town with the coachman as soon as we had set the bridal party down, and had the satisfaction of finding Fritz, my German, arrived before me:  he had come back in my carriage in my dress, having left the masquerade undiscovered, and done everything there according to my orders.

Poor Runt came back the next day in a piteous plight, keeping silence as to his share in the occurrences of the evening, and with a dismal story of having been drunk, of having been waylaid and bound, of having been left on the road and picked up by a Wicklow cart, which was coming in with provisions to Dublin, and found him helpless on the road.  There was no possible means of fixing any share of the conspiracy upon him.  Little Bullingdon, who, too, found his way home, was unable in any way to identify me.  But Lady Lyndon knew that I was concerned in the plot, for I met her hurrying the next day to the Castle; all the town being up about the enlevement.  And I saluted her with a smile so diabolical, that I knew she was aware that I had been concerned in the daring and ingenious scheme.