'The sergeant, miss, would like to say a word or two,' said Gill, in his
accustomed voice of servility.

'I will not speak with him,' said she proudly, and swept past him.

The constables stood to one side, and saluted in military fashion as she
passed down the hill. There was that in her queenlike gesture and carriage
that so impressed them, the men stood as though on parade.

Slowly and thoughtfully as she sauntered along, her thoughts turned to
Donogan. Had he escaped? was the idea that never left her. The presence of
these men here seemed to favour that impression; but there might be others
on his track, and if so, how in that wild bleak space was he to conceal
himself? A single man moving miles away on the bog could be seen. There was
no covert, no shelter anywhere! What an interest did his fate now suggest,
and yet a moment back she believed herself indifferent to him. 'Was he
aware of his danger,' thought she,' when he lay there talking carelessly to
me? was that recklessness the bravery of a bold man who despised peril?'
And if so, what stuff these souls were made of! These were not of the
Kearney stamp, that needed to be stimulated and goaded to any effort in
life; nor like Atlee, the fellow who relied on trick and knavery for
success; still less such as Walpole, self-worshippers and triflers. 'Yes,'
said she aloud,' a woman might feel that with such a man at her side the
battle of life need not affright her. He might venture too far--he might
aspire to much that was beyond his reach, and strive for the impossible;
but that grand bold spirit would sustain him, and carry him through all the
smaller storms of life: and such a man might be a hero, even to her who saw
him daily. These are the dreamers, as we call them,' said she. 'How strange
it would be if _they_ should prove the realists, and that it was _we_
should be the mere shadows! If these be the men who move empires and make
history, how doubly ignoble are we in our contempt of them.' And then she
bethought her what a different faculty was that great faith that these men
had in themselves from common vanity; and in this way she was led again to
compare Donogan and Walpole.

She reached the village before her little carriage had overtaken her, and
saw that the people stood about in groups and knots. A depressing silence
prevailed over them, and they rarely spoke above a whisper. The same
respectful greeting, however, which welcomed her before, met her