I knew that Captain Cardew had long since retired from the army, and
that one never knew in what corner of the world he might not be, since
wherever adventures were to be found he was.
I knew that he had spent many years of his life--he must be now nearly
forty, which was a great age to me--in the service of an unhappy great
lady whose little kingdom had been unjustly taken from her, and in her
cause he had spent his patrimony which had once been great. And now
since she no longer lived, having given up her gentle soul some two
years after she had sought the shelter of the convent against a rough
world, he was free once more to devote his sword of Don Quixote to some
other lost cause.
I knew, furthermore, that he was reported to have raised money from Mr.
Dawson of Damerstown at ruinous interest to spend it in the service of
the Princess Pauline, and that he was now very poor, too poor to keep
his old home from going to pieces and being consumed by the damp and by
rats and mice and general decay.
People used to wonder he did not try to sell it. Indeed, it was common
talk that before Mr. Dawson had bought Damerstown he had tried to obtain
possession of Brosna, and that his offer had been refused by Anthony
Cardew with contempt.
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