"Young leddy! There's none younger than the mistress, and she sleeps at night like a decent woman." "Has Miss Gorman gone, then?" I exclaimed. "Why not, when she was sent for?" "Who sent for her? When did she go? Where has she gone? Let me in, I say. There's foul play, and I must see your mistress instantly." My agitation succeeded in convincing the fellow that something was amiss, and he put in his head and presently unbarred the front door. "Mercy on us! what's the meaning of all this?" said the old man-servant as I stepped into the hall. "Let me see Mrs Shannon," said I. "What is it?" said a voice on the stairs before the butler could answer. I explained my mission, and inquired if it was true that Miss Kit had already departed. "To be sure," said the lady. "Mr Gorman's groom, Martin, rode over from Knockowen this evening with a message--" "Written?" I interrupted. "No; Mr Gorman was too busy to write. It was to say that a passage had been taken for Miss Kit and a maid on a brig that happened to be lying off the Five Fingers; and that, as he found the ship was to sail for Dublin with the flood to-night, he had sent over Martin to see her safely on board. I confess it seemed a little unusual; and Miss Kit was very reluctant to start on such short notice, saying it had been arranged she was to travel overland by way of Derry. But tell me, what's amiss?" "Foul play; nothing less!" cried I. "That ship is bound, not for Dublin, but for Holland; and this is a vile plot of the rebels to be revenged on Gorman, and decoy away his daughter as a hostage. Where did Martin say the ship lay?" "At Five Fingers, west of the headland; two leagues from here." "When did they start from here?" "Ten o'clock." "On foot?" "No. They rode; and will have been there an hour ago." "Can you lend me a horse? Mine at the inn is spent." "There's the cart-horse," said the butler. "That wall do. Mrs Shannon, I beg you will send over a man at once to Knockowen and let his honour know how matters stand. I will ride to Five Fingers and see if anything is to be done or learned. What sort of girl is the maid?" "A soft creature enough. She and this Martin have been courting a year past." With a groan of despair I followed the butler to the yard, and bridled the unwieldy beast I found there. "It's a fool's errand you are on," said the old retainer; "but maybe you'll have the luck to come within arm's-length of that blackguard Martin. I always doubted him. Are you armed?" "I have a pistol." "Take yonder old sword," said he, pointing to a rusty weapon suspended on the stable wall. "It has seen service before now." Thus mounted and accoutred, I dug my heels into the flanks of the great horse, and, in the breaking dawn, made along the rocky track which the butler had pointed out as leading to Five Fingers. "If nothing can be done," said I, as I left, "I will return here." "Dear send we shall see you no more then," said the old man.