t was cast over him, so
that he went to and fro in safety--men scarcely dared to guess; it was
a dark thing into which it were ill to peer too closely. But the fact
was certain; so certain that the anxiety of the young man that the
Colonel might meet with no hurt was plain and notorious, a thing
observed stealthily and with wonder. Did Colonel John saunter across
the court to the gateway, to look on the lake, The McMurrough was at
his shoulder in a twinkling, and thence, with a haggard eye, searched
the furze-bush for the glint of a gun-barrel, and the angle of the wall
for a lurking foe. It was the same if the Colonel, who seemed himself
unconscious of danger, fared as far as the ruined tower, or stretched
his legs on the road by the shore. The McMurrough could not be too near
him, walked with his hand on his arm, cast from time to time vigilant
looks to the rear. A score of times between rising and sleeping Colonel
John smiled at the care that forewent his steps and covered his
retreat; nor perhaps had the contempt in which he held James McMurrough
ever reached a higher pitch than while he thus stood from hour to hour
indebted to that young man for his life.

What Uncle Ulick, if he held the key to the matter, thought of it, or
how he explained it, if he had not, did not appear; nor, certain that
the big man would favour a course of action that made for peace, was
Colonel John overcurious to know. But what Flavia thought of the
position was a point which aroused his most lively curiosity. He gave
her credit for feelings so deep and for a nature so downright, that
time-serving or paltering were the last faults he looked to find in
her. He could hardly believe that she would consent to sit at meat with
him after what had happened; and possibly--for men are strange, and the
motives of the best are mixed--a desire to see how she would behave and
how she would bear herself in the circumstances had something to do
with the course he was taking.

That she consented to the plan was soon made clear. She even took part
in it. James could not be always at his elbow. The young man must
sometimes retire, it might be to vent his spleen in curses he dared not
utter openly, it might be to take other measures for his safety. When
this happened, the girl took her brother's place, stooped to dog the
Colonel's footsteps, and for a day or two, while the danger hung most
imminent, and every ditch to James's fancy held a lurking foe, cast