“On foot?”
“No. They rode; and will have been there an hour ago.”
“Can you lend me a horse? Mine at the inn is spent.”
“There’s the cart-horse,” said the butler.
“That wall do. Mrs Shannon, I beg you will send over a man at once to Knockowen and let his honour know how matters stand. I will ride to Five Fingers and see if anything is to be done or learned. What sort of girl is the maid?”
“A soft creature enough. She and this Martin have been courting a year past.”
With a groan of despair I followed the butler to the yard, and bridled the unwieldy beast I found there.
“It’s a fool’s errand you are on,” said the old retainer; “but maybe you’ll have the luck to come within arm’s-length of that blackguard Martin. I always doubted him. Are you armed?”
“I have a pistol.”
“Take yonder old sword,” said he, pointing to a rusty weapon suspended on the stable wall. “It has seen service before now.”