en Captain Davenant and Walter returned to the
castle. Mrs. Davenant had always shared her husband's opinion, that the
chances of ultimate success were small, and of late even his mother had
given up hope, and both were delighted that their anxieties were at last
over, and husband and son restored to them in safety. There was an
immense deal to tell on both sides, for it was months since any letter
had passed between them.

"We have everything to be thankful for," Mrs. Davenant said, when the
stories on both sides had been told, "and it seems to me that it is, to
no slight extent, due to Walter that we have passed so well through the
last two troubled years. It was Jabez Whitefoot who first stood our
friend, and who saved the castle from being burned, and his goodwill was
earned by Walter's friendship with his son. Then Mr. Conyers stood
between us and the council, who would certainly have confiscated
everything, had it not been for him. And, although he always expressed
himself as greatly indebted to you also, he said that, so far as he
understood from his wife, it was to Walter's foresight and arrangement
that his wife and daughter owed their rescue.

"How was it that Walter was so forward in the matter, Fergus?"

"Walter was perhaps more particularly interested in the matter than I
was," Captain Davenant said, with a smile. "His thoughts were running in
that direction."

Walter coloured up, and Mrs. Davenant, who was looking at him with some
surprise, at her husband's words, broke into a laugh.

"You don't mean to say, Walter, that you have been falling in love, at
your age?"

"You forget, dear," Captain Davenant said, coming to Walter's rescue,
"that Walter is no longer a boy. Three years of campaigning have made a
man of him, and, I venture to think, an earnest and thoughtful one. He
is, it is true, only nineteen, but he has seen as much, and gone through
as much, as men double his age. He has, upon several occasions, evinced
an amount of coolness and judgment in danger which has earned him the
approbation even of General Sarsfield, a man not easily satisfied."

"I don't mean to hurt your feelings, Walter," Mrs. Davenant said; "but of
course, it is difficult for me, at first, to realize that while you have
been away you have changed from a boy into a man."

"I don't mind, mother dear," Walter said, "and you can laugh at me as
much as you like."

"And is there anything in what your father says?" Mrs. Daven