out of patience, bustled after her.
He found her standing before an open, half-empty chest of drawers. The
room was very untidy, and here, also, the bed had not been slept in the
past night.

Mrs Prothero was rubbing her hands and crying pitifully; more from fear
of her husband's wrath than from sorrow for Owen, because she had
anticipated a sudden flight.

Mr Prothero began to stamp with rage. It was a long time before he could
speak, and his wife had a certain fear that he would choke. At last
words found vent.

'The impudent, lying, hypocritical, young baggage! The ungrateful,
disobedient, good-for-nothing brute! Ach a fi! upon 'em both. That's
what you get by harbouring Irish beggars!--that's the return they make!
A pale-faced, deceitful hussy!'

'Davy, bach! they are not gone together,' said Mrs Prothero,
half-believing at the same time that they were.

'Shall I lay breakfast, ma'am?' interrupted Shanno, putting her head in
at the door and grinning suspiciously.

'Go your way, and mind your own business,' said Mr Prothero.

Shanno disappeared.

'I'll go out and see whether either of the horses is gone. Go you and
make breakfast--the good-for-nothing--'

'Just let me tell you first what Owen said to me last night,' said Mrs
Prothero. 'I don't think he ever deceived us, Davy; and if he did wrong,
he was never the one to hide it.'

'Treue for you! Well, what did the young scamp say? I don't blame him
half as much as that meek, pale-faced, still-water thing, who's as deep
as the north star, I'll be bound.'

'But Owen told me, seriously, that she refused to have anything to say
to him, and begged me to be kind to her when he was gone away, for his
sake.'

'Nothing but a trap to take you in--the deceitful young
puppies--the--the--'

'Go and look about the horses and I'll make breakfast.'

He went accordingly. All the horses were safe. Nothing was missing
anywhere but Lion.

'I 'ouldn't take twenty pounds for that dog,' said Mr Prothero when he
returned to the house, and sat down to breakfast.

'Hadn't we better send to look for them?' asked Mrs Prothero timidly.

'I'll see 'em hanged first. What! go and make another hullabaloo all
through the country, as if one wasn't enough in one house. No, not I.
Let 'em go to sea, or where they will; but don't tell anybody anything
about 'em. Let people think what they will; I only wish I was at the
world's end. But it's all your fault. Do you remember that mo