n betrayed him, she would never forgive herself.
Certainly it was unlikely he would; for in that part priests moved
freely, the authorities winked at their presence, and it was only
within sight of the walls of Tralee or of Galway that the law which
proscribed them was enforced. But her experience of Colonel
Sullivan--of his activity, his determination, his devilish
adroitness--made all things seem possible. He had been firm as fate in
the removal of the Bishop and Cammock; he had been turned no jot from
his purpose by her prayers, her rage, her ineffectual struggles--she
sickened at the remembrance of that moment. He was capable of
everything, this man who had come suddenly into their lives out of the
darkness of far Scandinavia, himself dark and inscrutable. He was
capable of everything, and if he thought fit--but at that point her
eyes alighted on a man who was approaching along the lake-road. It was
Father O'Hara himself. The priest was advancing as calmly and openly as
if no law made his presence a felony, or as if no Protestant breathed
the soft Irish air for a dozen leagues about.

Her brother's words had shaken Flavia's nerves. She was courageous, but
she was a woman. She flew to meet the priest, and with every step his
peril loomed larger before her fluttered spirits. The wretch had said
that he would be master, and a master who was a Protestant, a
fanatic----

She did not follow the thought to its conclusion. She waved a warning
even before she reached the Father. When she did, "Father!" she cried
eagerly, "you must get away, and come back after dark!"

The good man's jaw fell. He had been looking forward to good cheer and
a good bed, to a rare oasis of comfort in his squalid life. He cast a
wary look round him. "What has happened, my daughter?" he stammered.

"Colonel Sullivan!" Flavia gasped. "He is here, and he will certainly
give you up."

"Colonel Sullivan?"

"Yes. You were at the Carraghalin? You have heard what happened! He
will surely give you up!"

"Are the soldiers here?" the priest asked, with a blanched face.

"No, but he is here! He is in the house, and may come out at any
moment," Flavia explained. "Don't you understand?"

"Did he tell you----"

"What?"

"That he would inform?"

"No!" Flavia replied, thinking the man very dull. "But you wouldn't
trust him?"

The priest looked round to assure himself that the landscape held no
overt signs of danger. Then he brought back his eyes