"Then you must leave us?" Mrs. Conyers said at last.

"I am afraid so, Mrs. Conyers. Yes, sorry as I am that our pleasant time
here must come to an end, there is no questioning the order. I have been,
in fact, expecting it for the last day or two."

"Then I shall move," Mrs. Conyers said, decidedly. "It will take us a day
or two to pack up such valuables as I should like to take away and leave
at Limerick, till the return of happier days. When that is accomplished,
I shall carry out my intention of making for Galway, and leave the house
to take care of itself."

"In the meantime, madam," Captain Davenant said, "I will leave my son and
four of the men, who are now convalescent, as a protection. I fancy they
are all fit to take the saddle, but I can strain a point a little, and
leave them still on the sick list."

"Thank you very much, indeed," Mrs. Conyers said, while a glance of
satisfaction passed between Walter and Claire. "That will be a
satisfaction. Indeed, I shall feel quite safe, so long as your son is
here. I wish now I had moved the things before; but I had hoped that you
would have been allowed to remain in quarters here all the winter. Had it
not been for that, I should never have decided as I did."

The next morning the troop started.

"The place seems strangely quiet," Walter said, as he strolled out into
the garden with Claire, after breakfast. "It seems terrible to think
that, in three or four days, it will be deserted altogether, and that you