d home in a man's.'

'And what should I be?'

'My wife within an hour; my idol while I live.'

'There are some who would give this another name than courage,' said she
thoughtfully.

'Let them call it what they will, Nina. Is it not to the unbounded trust of
a nature that is above all others that I, poor, unknown, ignoble as I
am, appeal when I ask, Will you be mine? One word--only one--or, better
still--'

He clasped her in his arms as he spoke, and drawing her head towards his,
kissed her cheek rapturously.

With wild and fervent words, he now told her rapidly that he had come
prepared to make her the declaration, and had provided everything, in the
event of her compliance, for their flight. By an unused path through the
bog they could gain the main road to Maryborough, where a priest, well
known in the Fenian interest, would join them in marriage. The officials
of the railroad were largely imbued with the Nationalist sentiment, and
Donogan could be sure of safe crossing to Kilkenny, where the members of
the party were in great force.

In a very few words he told her how, by the mere utterance of his name, he
could secure the faithful services and the devotion of the people in every
town or village of the kingdom. 'The English have done this for us,' cried
he, 'and we thank them for it. They have popularised rebellion in a way
that all our attempts could never have accomplished. How could I, for
instance, gain access to those little gatherings at fair or market, in the
yard before the chapel, or the square before the court-house--how could
I be able to explain to those groups of country-people what we mean by a
rising in Ireland? what we purpose by a revolt against England? how it is
to be carried on, or for whose benefit? what the prizes of success, what
the cost of failure? Yet the English have contrived to embody all these in
one word, and that word _my_ name!'

There was a certain artifice, there is no doubt, in the way in which this
poorly-clad and not distinguished-looking man contrived to surround himself
with attributes of power and influence; and his self-reliance imparted to
his voice as he spoke a tone of confidence that was actually dignified. And
besides this, there was personal daring--for his life was on the hazard,
and it was the very contingency of which he seemed to take the least heed.

Not less adroit, too, was the way in which he showed what a shock
and amazement her conduct would occasi