"Well, sir, I can assist you to attain your end," interrupted the lieutenant on the horse; "and since you desire to see the castle, perhaps you would not object to taking a look at it from the inside."
"As a prisoner, monsieur?"
"Well, I am sorry you put it that way, but I shall be compelled to turn you over to the governor."
"But I protest, monsieur!"
"You can protest to the admiral if you wish, the governor, I mean, for you will have to come along now, under the circumstances. We hear that d----d Scots buccaneer Paul Jones is on the coast, and we don't know when he might strike or whom he might send on shore. We can't be too careful, you know."
"Very well, monsieur, I come," said O'Neill, shrugging his shoulders and resigning himself gracefully to the inevitable.
"That's good," answered the young officer. "Bring him along, sergeant."
"Yes, leftenant. Now, you Johnnie, right about face, march!"
It was in this unexpected and undignified manner that O'Neill gained entrance to the castle. As they walked beneath the great gates of the gloomy fortress, his heart, in spite of the serious nature of his position, gave a bound of elation. This reckless young man had as yet no other thought than that by every step he had been brought a little nearer to his divinity; if other thoughts had come, it is doubtful if he would have allowed them to stop him now. As the party halted in the courtyard, while the lieutenant dismounted and hastened to apprise the governor of the capture, he even ventured most imprudently to ask the sergeant if Lady Elizabeth Howard was in the castle.
"She is," replied the astonished functionary. "Wot's that to you, I'd like to know?"