y much surprised.

"Shall I not say a word to Kate?" the Earl asked as he was going.

"Not till you are prepared to tell her that she shall be your wife,"
said the priest.

But this was a matter as to which Kate herself had a word to say. When
they were in the passage she came out from her room, and again rushed
into her lover's arms. "Oh, Fred, let me told,--let me told. I will go
with you anywhere if you will take me."

"He is to come up to-morrow, Kate," said her mother.

"He will be here early to-morrow, and everything shall be settled then,"
said the priest, trying to assume a happy and contented tone.

"Dearest Kate, I will be here by noon," said Lord Scroope, returning the
girl's caresses.

"And you will not desert me?"

"No, darling, no." And then he went, leaving the priest behind him at
the cottage.

Father Marty was to be with him at the inn by eight, and then the whole
matter must be again discussed. He felt that he had been very weak, that
he had made no use,--almost no use at all,--of the damning fact of the
Captain's existence. He had allowed the priest to talk him down in every
argument, and had been actually awed by the girl's mother, and yet he
was determined that he would not yield. He felt more strongly than ever,
now that he had again seen Kate O'Hara, that it would not be right that
such a one as she should be made Countess of Scroope. Not only would she
disgrace the place, but she would be unhappy in it, and would shame him.
After all the promises that he had made he could not, and he would not,
take her to Scroope as his wife. How could she hold up her head before
such women as Sophie Mellerby and others like her? It would be known by
all his friends that he had been taken in and swindled by low people
in the County Clare, and he would be regarded by all around him as
one who had absolutely ruined himself. He had positively resolved that
she should not be Countess of Scroope, and to that resolution he would
adhere. The foul-mouthed priest had called him a coward, but he would
be no coward. The mother had said that she would have his life. If
there were danger in that respect he must encounter it. As he returned
to Ennistimon he again determined that Kate O'Hara should never become
Countess of Scroope.

For three hours Father Marty remained with him that night, but did not
shake him. He had now become accustomed to the priest's wrath and could
endure it. And he thought also that he cou