"Honor," her lover says, coming back to her, "I have no time to plead with you, and sure I have no need to tell you again how I love you. I thought and hoped you would have come with me this night of your own free will; but since you will not do that, by St. Joseph, you shall come without it!"
From the road comes a sudden shrill whistle, and the girl's heart sinks within her. Oh, how mad she has been to put herself in the power of this man and his associates!
For an instant, as she leans against the wall behind her, a faintness steals over her. Her eyes grow dim, and there is a sound in her ears like the rush and roar of the weir down the river.
When this feeling has passed away she hears Power's voice speaking, as it seems to her dizzy brain, out of great darkness.
"There is a car waiting to take us to Boyne. Once there we are with friends, and you can make all needful preparations for our journey."
She does not answer him; she could not. Her lips are dry and quivering with the terror that has come upon her.
At this moment some one glides from behind a pillar and touches Power on the arm. With an impatient gesture he moves back a little way to listen to the man's message; and in this one second Honor sees her only chance of escape.
With a slow gliding motion she gains the end of the wall, and sees the open square of the old court before her.
Some one may be watching from behind those broken buttresses, she knows; but she is desperate, and has no time to count the chances. With a rapid step she crosses the square, and is almost at the open gateway when a man steps forward and holds her back by the arm.
"Not so fast, miss! Shure ye'd not be for forgetting the masther!"