ne straight to her heart.

"I am not very happy certainly; it is an anxious time for us all just
now."

"Yes," he says, pretending not to see her tears, "and it is lonely at
Donaghmore; but you are not so unprotected as you appear to be. There
are those on the watch who would gladly die to shield you from danger."

"I used to think so," she answers sadly, "but I am not so sure of it
now."

"But you may be sure of it, Honor--I will answer for that myself."

She smiles as she listens to him. What should this Englishman know of
the feelings of the people? He means to be kind of course; but his
words carry no comfort--how should they? Looking at him as he stands
before her, she cannot but own that, if his face is proud and a trifle
cold in its repose, there is something true and winsome in it. The keen
eyes meet hers unflinchingly, the firm lips under the heavy moustache
have not a harsh curve about them; it is a face with power in it, and
some tenderness and passion too, under all its chill composure.

"He has the look of a man one might trust through everything," she says
to herself almost with a sigh; and then she turns to go back to her
friends, angry that he should have won so much thought from her.

"Don't go yet, Honor; it's cooler here than among all those chattering
women; and if you want any tea, I can bring you some."

The sunshine is beating fiercely down upon the groups scattered over
the center of the lawn; but here under the trees the grass is flecked
with cool shadows, and the two catch the breeze--such as it is--that
comes from the river.

"I don't care for any tea, thanks; but I do enjoy this shade," she says
almost reluctantly; and still indifferent to a degree that might be
called rude, she lets him find a seat on the low bough of one of the
ash-trees, well out of reach of the sunshine.

He does not offer to sit down beside her, though there is plenty of
room.

With his shoulder against a tree and his hat well pulled over his eyes
he stands and talks in his easy, half-grave, half-mocking way, that, in
spite of herself, the girl finds charming.

He does not appear to be in the least anxious to interest or amuse her;
yet he does both. Before long she is laughing as she has not laughed
for weeks--a pretty color has come into her cheeks, her eyes are
sparkling. No wonder the man looking at her feels his heart thrill!

If ever he thought that he could go away and leave this willful Irish
girl