Though declarations of this sort--more or less sincere as chance might make them--were things Nina was well used to, she could not help marking the impassioned manner of him who now spoke, and bent her eyes steadily on him. ‘It is true,’ said he, as if answering the interrogation in her gaze. ‘A poor outcast as I am--a rebel--a felon--anything you like to call me--the slightest show of your interest in me gives my life a value, and my hope a purpose I never knew till now.’ ‘Such interest would be but ill-bestowed if it only served to heighten your danger. Are you known here?’ ‘He who has stood in the dock, as I have, is sure to be known by some one. Not that the people would betray me. There is poverty and misery enough in that wretched village, and yet there’s not one so hungry or so ragged that he would hand me over to the law to make himself rich for life.’ ‘Then what do you mean to do?’ asked she hurriedly. ‘Walk boldly through the village at the head of your pony, as I am now--your guide to Croghan Castle.’ ‘But we were to have stabled the beast here. I intended to have gone on foot to Croghan.’ ‘Which you cannot now. Do you know what English law is, lady?’ cried he fiercely. ‘This pony and this carriage, if they had shelter here, are confiscated to the landlord for his rent. It’s little use to say _you_ owe nothing to this owner of the soil; it’s enough that they are found amongst the chattels of his debtors.’ ‘I cannot believe this is law.’ ‘You can prove it--at the loss of your pony; and it is mercy and generous dealing when compared with half the enactments our rulers have devised for us. Follow me. I see the police have not yet come down. I will go on in front and ask the way to Croghan.’ There was that sort of peril in the adventure now that stimulated Nina and excited her; and as they stoutly wended their way through the crowd, she was far from insensible to the looks of admiration that were bent on her from every side. ‘What are they saying?’ asked she; ‘I do not know their language.’ ‘It is Irish,’ said he; ‘they are talking of your beauty.’ ‘I should so like to follow their words,’ said she, with the smile of one to whom such homage had ever its charm. ‘That wild-looking fellow, that seemed to utter an imprecation, has just pronounced a fervent blessing; what he has said was, “May every glance of your eye be a candle to light you to glory.”’ A half-insolent laugh at this conceit was all Nina’s acknowledgment of it. Short greetings and good wishes were now rapidly exchanged between Donogan and the people, as the little party made their way through the crowd--the men standing bareheaded, and the women uttering words of admiration, some even crossing themselves piously, at sight of such loveliness, as, to them, recalled the ideal of all beauty. ‘The police are to be here at one o’clock,’ said Donogan, translating a phrase of one of the bystanders. ‘And is there anything for them to seize on?’ asked she.