long, I will both
conceal and protect you. I presume there is little time to be lost,
for those priest hounds will be apt to ride round to the entrance gate,
which I will desire the porter to close and lock, and then leave the
lodge."

On their way home he did so, and ordered the porter up to the house. The
magnificent avenue was a serpentine one, and our friends had barely time
to get out of sight of the lodge, by a turn in it, when they heard the
voices of the pursuers, hallooing for the porter, and thundering at the
gate.

"Ay, thunder away, only don't injure my gate, Smellpriest, or I'll make
you replace it; bawl yourselves hoarse--you are on the wrong side for
once!"

When they were approaching the hall-door, which generally lay open--

"Confound me," said the squire, "if I know what to do with you; I
trust in God I won't get into odium by this. At all events, let us steal
upstairs as quietly as we can, and, if possible, without any one seeing
us."

To the necessity of this the priest assented, and they had reached the
first landing of the staircase when out popped right in their teeth two
housemaids each with brush in hand. Now it instantly occurred to the
squire that in this unlucky crisis bribery was the safest resource. He
accordingly addressed them:

"Come here, you jades, don't say a word about this man's presence
here--don't breathe it; here's five shillings apiece for you, and let
one of you go and bring me up, secretly, the key of the green-room in
the garret; it has not been opened for some time. Be quick now; or stay,
desire Lanigan to fetch it, and refreshment also; there's cold venison
and roast beef, and a bottle of wine; tell Lanigan I'm going to lunch,
and to lay the table in my study. Lanigan can be depended on," he added,
after the chambermaid had gone, "for when I concealed another priest
here once, he was entrusted with the secret, and was faithful."

Now it so happened that one of those maids, who was a bitter Protestant,
at once recognized Father Maguire, notwithstanding his disguise. She had
been a servant for four or five years in the house of a wealthy farmer
who lived adjoining him, and with whom he had been in the habit
of frequently dining when no danger was to be apprehended from the
operation of the laws. Indeed, she and Malcomson, the gardener, were
the only two individuals in the squire's establishment who were not
Catholics. Malcomson was a manoeuvrer, and, as is pretty usu