’That is as I would have it, cousin.  So soon then as it is dark this evening, you will together, you and Caspar, set the springs which lie under the first stone of the paving of the bridge.  Thereafter, as you know, the first foot set upon it will drop the drawbridge to the stone bridge, and the same instant convert the two into an aqueduct, filled with a rushing torrent from the reservoir, which will sweep the intruders away.  Before they shall have either gathered their discomfited wits or raised their prostrate bones, my father will be out upon them, nor shall they find shelter for their shame ere every soul in the castle has witnessed their disgrace.’

’I had thought of the plan, my lord; but I dreaded the punishment might be too severe, not knowing what the water might do upon them.’

‘There will be no danger to life, and little to limb,’ said his lordship.  ’The torrent will cease flowing the moment they are swept from the bridge.  But they shall be both bruised and shamed; and,’ added his lordship, with an oath such as seldom crossed his lips, ’in such times as these, they will well deserve what shall befall them.  Intruding hounds!—­But you must take heed, cousin Dorothy, that you forget not that you have yourself done.  Should you have occasion to go on the bridge after setting your vermin-trap, you must not omit to place your feet precisely where Caspar will show you, else you will have to ride a watery horse half-way, mayhap to the marble one—­except indeed he throw you from his back against the chapel-door.’

When her husband talked in long sentences, as he was not unfrequently given to do, lady Margaret, even when their sequences were not very clear, seldom interrupted him:  she had learned that she gained more by letting him talk on; for however circuitous the route he might take, he never forgot where he was going.  He might obscure his object, but there it always was.  He was now again walking up and down the room, and, perceiving that he had not yet arranged all to his satisfaction, she watched him with merriment in her Irish eyes, and waited.

‘I have it!’ he cried again.  ’It shall be so, and my father shall thus have immediate notice.  The nights are weekly growing warmer, and he will not therein be tempted to his hurt.  Our trusty and well-beloved cousin Dorothy, we herewith, in presence of our liege and lovely lady, appoint thee our deputy during our absence.  No one but thyself hath a right to cross the bridge after dark, save Caspar and the governor, whom with my father I shall inform and warn concerning what is to be done.  But I will myself adjust the escape, so that the torrent shall not fall too powerful; Caspar must connect it with the drawbridge, whose fall will then open it.  And pray remind him to see first that all the hinges and joints concerned be well greased, that it may fall instantly.’