ld, I want you to go and inquire
after Mrs Massey and Owen; they may hear rumours of what has occurred,
and will wish to know the truth. You will have time to go there and be
back again before dark."

Gerald, who was always good-natured and anxious to please Norah,
undertook to go and deliver any message, written or oral, she might wish
to send. She had already a note prepared for Owen, and with it Gerald
set off. He found Owen much better, and ready, if the doctor would let
him, to walk into Waterford to see Norah; but Mrs Massey was sure that
he overrated his strength, and told Gerald that Norah must not expect
him for some days. She was much interested at hearing the account which
Gerald gave of the various occurrences of the last two days.

"And can that unhappy man have really been captured? What a sad ending
to a once respected family!" she exclaimed. "He cannot expect pardon.
I bear him no ill-will, though his family has been the ruin of ours; and
even now, in the hope that he may have time for repentance, I would
thankfully hear that he had escaped rather than suffer the death his
crimes deserve."

"I should certainly not have suspected that the Carnegan we had as
second mate on board the _Ouzel Galley_ could have been a murderer and
pirate," said Gerald. "The men, however, were inclined to believe from
the way he was saved that he was in league with the Evil One, and they
will now be convinced that such was the case."

"Satan would rather have let him drown," said Mrs Massey, "unless
indeed he wished to employ him in some still more wicked deed. He
undoubtedly mates use of those who willingly yield to him as his tools
to work out his designs."

While Mrs Massey had been talking to Gerald, Owen had been inditing an
answer to Norah's note, with which, rather later than he had intended,
Gerald set off to return home. It was quite dark before he reached the
town. He was proceeding along a narrow lane which offered a shorter cut
than the high road, when he heard the footsteps of a person running at
full speed, and directly afterwards a man rushed by him whose
countenance he could not see; but it struck him at the time that the
figure greatly resembled that of Carnegan, the second mate of the _Ouzel
Galley_. He was doubtful for a moment whether he should follow: though
brave enough under ordinary circumstances, he felt pretty certain that
if such was the case O'Harrall would not scruple to knock him o