As it was, we could now run straight for home, and a few minutes would see us alongside the little pier of Knockowen.

I helped her back to her seat beside me, and drew the tarpaulin around her.

Her face, which had been anxious enough for a while, cleared as suddenly as the wind had shifted.

“I declare, Barry, I was afraid just now.”

“So you might be; and no shame to you for it,” said I.

“Are you ever afraid?” said she.

“Ay, I was at Kilgorman that night.”

Again she laughed.

“I’d as soon be afraid of a real peril as of a silly fancy,” said she. “I mean to go and see Kilgorman one day.”

“Not with my good-will, mistress,” said I.