--it is I who will seek that man and
make him love me, and if he ever leaves me or is untrue, I shall kill
him. For that is the way of the Fingaul. Uncle Julian says so."

As she explained her lot in life Patsy was peeling and eating a sappy
root of rush which she had plucked. With this and a piece of clear brown
gum, the exudation of a smooth-barked wild cherry tree, she made a
delicious repast. She offered his share to Louis, who was in no mood for
frivolities. In spite of his smile he had been hurt to the quick. But
Patsy was perfectly calm, and having fixed a large lump of cherry-gum on
a thorn, she licked round and round it with relish, occasionally holding
it between her eye and the twinkle of the sun to see the effect of the
deep amber hue.

Still she was circumspect, and when a figure in grey appeared tramping
sturdily up the glen swinging a stick, she nudged her companion into
sulky kind of attention.

"Uncle Julian," she said, after the tall clean-shaved man had turned the
corner. "I wish you could see his house--properly, I mean, not just from
the road."

"I have seen it from the sea!" said Louis, still grumpily.

"And that is no wise way to see it. There are always gentlemen of the
Free Trade hanging about in the offing these days, and if they thought
that the heir of Raincy was spying on them--well, they might take the
liberty of throwing him overboard to sink or swim."

"But surely your uncle has nothing to do with smuggling or smugglers? My
grandfather says that it is no business for a gentleman to dip his
fingers in!"

"Your grandfather says a great many other things to which you do not pay
great heed--else you would not be sitting here looking as gloomy as the
raven that croaked when the old cow wouldn't die. No, sir, you would be
sitting up on the stile yonder, cursing the Ferrises with bell, book and
candle--and the old man helping you out when you forgot the words."

The girl went on sucking her cherry-gum without the least concern as to
whether Louis Raincy was hurt in his feelings or no. If he were, the
obvious alternative was before him. He could return to Castle Raincy the
way he had come. About this or about him Patsy gave herself no trouble.

Indeed, Patsy gave herself no trouble about anything or anybody, and so
accustomed herself to the management of men. Women, she knew, were
different.

CHAPTER II

THE MAIDENS' COVE

Castle Raincy was a great lord's mansion, and the b