ions. More than this. One glance showed him how
the land lay with Katie; so our monarch, not content with abstaining
from all further allusion to Harry, actually carried his
complaisance--or, if you please, his diplomacy--so far as to try to
appease all possible anxieties that might arise in Katie's mind.

"Shure the two lads meant no harrum at all at all," said "His
Majesty." "They happened to find a way to get here, an' they came
here, an' begorra they'd have been fools if they didn't. Shure to
glory, there's no harrum in life in comin' here on a bit av a visit.
An' there's no wondher that a young man 'ud come here, wid such
charrums as these to invoite him. Shure it 'ud be enough to call the
dead back to loife, so it would. An' if they've run off wid the
senorita, all I can say is, they can't go far, an' the senorita'll
have to come back agin, so she will:

"'Tis to visit my Nancy I go,
Through bushes au' briers an' flucis;
For Nancy has bothered me brains,
An' I've taken French lave av me sinsis.'"

"And wasn't there any ghost at all?" asked Mrs. Russell, to whom this
information had given inexpressible relief.

"Well," said "His Majesty, "there's no knowin'; an' it's best to be
on yer gyard, so it is, for sorra a one av us knows whin a ghost may
be prowlin' round about, an' there ye have it. As for the other
ghosts, Ashby an' Rivers, they won't do yez any more harruum--they're
undher gyard."

"Under guard!" said Katie, and threw an imploring look at "His
Majesty." It was almost the first time that he had fairly caught her
eye, so dexterously had she always avoided his glance.

"Well," said "His Majesty," "they're none the worse for that--not a
bit. Av all r'y'l atthributes none is so thruly majistic as the
atthributes av mercy, an' makeniss, an' magnanimeetee. These are the
shuprame atthributes av r'y'lty, an' iminintly characterize our own
r'y'l chyracter, so they does. So the young lads may whistle for all
av me--an' sorra a harrum shall harrum thim."

At this Katie threw toward "His Majesty" a glance of gratitude
unspeakable, which sank deep into the royal soul.

"An' now, ladies," said he, "I must infarrum yez that afther the
ayvints av this noight I doesn't considher this room safe for yez at
all at all. Shure it's loike a public thoroughfare, an' it's a
gathering-place an' rendezvous for min an' angils, ghosts an'
hobgoblins, an' all manner av ayvil craytures. So the long an' the
s