r
aunt and cousin, and asked him to come again another day. That of
course he did, not only once, but very often. One of the men who had
been in the car, Shane McDermot, was, Marshall found, a lover of
Kathleen's, but she did not like him. No wonder, for he was a rough,
savage-looking fellow. Kathleen at length showed that she liked
Marshall, and she warned him to beware of Shane. Dick was a
stout-hearted fellow, and said he did not fear him. A man would think
twice before he would attempt to shoot a soldier, not but what officers
and men too have been shot in Ireland.

Marshall continued his visits as usual, and the oftener he went the more
in love he grew with Kathleen, and the more, it was clear, she loved
him.

One evening, after the tattoo had sounded, as he was hurrying home, a
shot whistled by his ear, and directly afterwards two men set upon him
with their shillalahs. One he knocked over with his fist, and drawing
his bayonet, put the other to flight. He was pretty certain that the
man he knocked over was Shane, but he could not stop to see; indeed he
thought that it was wiser to push on to his quarters. When he told
Kathleen the next day, she was very unhappy, and said that she should be
the cause of his death. Dick told her not to be afraid, and finished by
asking her to marry him. She said that she would with great pleasure,
and follow him, like a true good wife, round the world. This made Dick
perfectly happy. When he came, however, to speak to the captain of his
company, he found that as he was one of the youngest men in the
regiment, he had no chance of getting leave; and that if he married
without leave, his wife would have none of the privileges of a soldier's
wife, and that he would be treated as a single man. The last time he
saw her she promised that she would marry no one else, and ever remain
faithful to him.

My company afterwards went on detachment, and I was stationed at the
same place that Marshall had been. He had begged me to go and see
Kathleen. When her family knew that I was his friend, they treated me
very kindly. I went to the house several times. Shane was there one
evening. I was not surprised that she did not like him. There was a
scowl on his brow and a glance in his eye, as he turned towards me,
which made me think that he was very likely to have a shot at me some
dark night, if he could get the chance. I would not accuse any man of
wishing to do such a thing