, and Norah settled down to her daily
occupations. Norah was not free from some anxiety on her own account,
for she could not forget the attempt which had been made to carry her
off, or divest herself altogether of the fear that she might be
subjected to a similar outrage. She therefore never ventured abroad
without her father's escort, while he at home ever kept his firearms
ready for her defence. Still, as week after week went by, her hope that
O'Harrall had quitted the country, and that he would not again venture
to molest her, increased. She heard occasionally from Ellen, though
letters were long in coming, and more than once the mail had been
stopped on the road and plundered--a too frequent occurrence to be
thought much of in those days.

Norah, notwithstanding her fears, was unmolested. The captain had given
out that if any one should venture to run off with his daughter he would
not obtain a farthing of his property--a wise precaution, for it
probably prevented any of the squireens in the neighbourhood from making
the attempt--added to the fact, which was pretty generally known, that
she was engaged to marry Owen Massey.

Month after month went by. Ellen at first wrote her word that she was
going much into society--more, indeed, than she liked--while she had an
abundance of occupation at home in attending to her father's household.
Latterly, from her letters, she appeared to be living a more quiet life
than at first. She mentioned her father, who seemed to be much out of
spirits, though she could not divine the cause. She again invited Norah
to come up to Dublin and help to cheer him up.

"You are a great favourite of his, you know," she wrote. "He delights
in hearing you sing, and your merry laugh and conversation will do him
good."

But Norah could not be induced to leave her father; besides which, she
confessed to Ellen, she was looking forward in a short time to the
return of the _Ouzel Galley_, and she would be sorry if Owen should not
find her at home on his arrival. Ellen, in reply, told her that the
_Ouzel Galley_, after calling at Waterford, would probably have to come
on to Dublin, and she continued--"And my father, finding it necessary to
go out to Jamaica, intends taking a passage in her; and I have
determined to obtain leave to accompany him. I fear that he will object
to my doing so, on account of the danger to which I may be exposed; but,
you know, as I generally manage to have my o