“Stay! you are not strong enough,” said the girl. “Come outside the yard, here; come with me.”
She walked across the yard, reached the little postern gate, and opened it.
“Come out and wait,” she said in a mysterious voice. “You cannot walk to Slieve Nagorna, and yet you must get there; but I will get Angus to take you.”
“Angus! ay, he is a true Irish boy. Aw, I'd trust him.”
“You well may; he is a broth of a boy,” said Nora. “Sit there. I will soon be back with you.”
She shut Andy out, bolting the little gate. The man heard the bolt being drawn, but did not move; he had not the slightest fear but that Nora would keep her word. She ran across the yard and opened the door of the barn at the farther end. Angus was already awake; he heard her light step.
“Is it me you're wanting, Miss Nora?”
“Angus, all is well,” she said. “What I wanted to do I have succeeded in doing. It is Andy Neil who is without; he is broken down and is very weak. Get the long cart and take him to the foot of Slieve Nagorna, help him up the mountain, and see him into the old cot where he was born. Good-night, Angus, and God bless you.”
Nora returned to her own bedroom. She unlocked the door and let herself in. Without waiting even to undress, she flung herself on the bed, curled herself up, and went off into dreamless slumber. When she woke again it was broad daylight, and Molly was standing over her.
“Why, Nora, you have lain undressed all night! What—what has happened?”