undation whatever."

"To what extent does this information go?" said Sir Archy, cautiously.

"That I can't tell you; all I know is, that my father has just received
a letter from the Castle, stating that we are living in the very midst
of an organised rebellion, only waiting the signal for open revolt.

"That same rebellion has been going on, to my knowledge, something more
than forty years" said the O'Donoghue, laughing; "and I never knew of
a Lord Lieutenant or Chief Secretary who didn't discover the plot, and
save the kingdom: always leaving a nest egg of treason for his successor
to make a character by."

"I'm no' so sure it will not come to a hatching yet," said Sir Archy,
with a dry shake of the head.

"If it is to come, I wish with all my heart it might while I have a
chance of being a spectator," said Travers; then suddenly remembering
that the levity of the remark might not please the others, he muttered a
few words about a hope of better prospects, and withdrew.

During this brief colloquy, Kate listened with breathless interest to
learn some fact, or even some well-grounded suspicion which might serve
to put Mark on his guard; but nothing could be more vague and indecisive
than Travers's information, and it was evident that he had not concealed
any thing he knew. Was he in a position to learn more, was the next
question to herself--might he not be able to ascertain where the
suspicion of Government rested, and on whom? Her decisions were seldom
but the work of a second, and as soon as this thought struck her, she
determined to act upon it. Slipping noiselessly from the room, she
hastily threw a shawl around her, and hurried from the house by a small
postern door, which, leading down to the high road, was considerably
shorter than the causeway by which Travers must pass.

It was no time for the indulgence of bashfulness, and indeed her
thoughts were far too highly excited by another's destiny to leave any
room to think of herself; and short as the path was, it sufficed to let
her arrange her plan of procedure, even to the very words she should
employ.

"I must not tell him it is for Mark," said she; "he must think it is a
general desire to save any rash or misguided enthusiast from ruin. But,
here he comes;" and at the same instant the figure of a man was seen
approaching, leading his horse by the bridle. The dark shadow of the
castle fell across the road at the spot, and served to make the form
dim a