will do so gladly."

"What I want to know is, what Kennedys were at the siege?"

"There was Murroch Kennedy, and Phelim, who was always called 'Red
Kennedy', on account of his colour; and James and Fergus. I knew
all those, because they were friends of my master's. It may be
that there were many others, but they were unbeknown to me."

"Am I like any of them?"

The woman looked at him searchingly.

"You are not, sir; but you are mighty like my master, barring, of
course, that he was a man ten years older than yourself. But the
more I look at you, the more I see the likeness."

"I did not know that you had a master, Mrs. Rooney. I thought that
you were there with your husband."

"So I was, your honour; but when he was kilt I was left alone,
saving for a child that had been born a fortnight before; and what
with the bad smells of the place, and the sound of the cannon, and
the fact of my grief, he pined away all at once, and died a week
after me husband. It is well-nigh starving we all were. Even the
fighting men had scarce enough food to keep their strength up, and
a lone woman would have died from hunger. So I was mighty glad,
when a friend of mine told me that there was an officer's lady who
had had a baby, and, being but weak and ailing, wanted a foster
mother for it; so I went at once and got the place, and was with
her for a month.

"Her husband was killed three weeks after I went there, and the
blow was too much for her, and she died a week later. A fortnight
after that came the peace, and as everything was in confusion,
what wid our soldiers all going away to France, and the
persecutions and slaughterings, I took the child with me and went
down to my cousin Larry's here. Av course, I could not part with
it, and I could not make my way alone across the country, so I
came down here with the troops. I was not strong myself, and it
was a year later before I was able to take it to its friends."

"What was the name of your master?" Desmond asked eagerly, for her
last words had excited a sudden train of ideas in his mind.

"He was Mr. James O'Carroll, a great gentleman, and the head of
his family."

Desmond sprang to his feet.

"That explains it all!" he exclaimed. "Mrs. Rooney, I have no
doubt that I am your foster child."

"Why, how can that be, your honour, seeing as your name is
Kennedy? Though, except for that, you might well be so, seeing
that you are so like my master."

"At any rate, Mrs. Roo