“Then you must leave us?” Mrs. Conyers said at last.

“I am afraid so, Mrs. Conyers.  Yes, sorry as I am that our pleasant time here must come to an end, there is no questioning the order.  I have been, in fact, expecting it for the last day or two.”

“Then I shall move,” Mrs. Conyers said, decidedly.  “It will take us a day or two to pack up such valuables as I should like to take away and leave at Limerick, till the return of happier days.  When that is accomplished, I shall carry out my intention of making for Galway, and leave the house to take care of itself.”

“In the meantime, madam,” Captain Davenant said, “I will leave my son and four of the men, who are now convalescent, as a protection.  I fancy they are all fit to take the saddle, but I can strain a point a little, and leave them still on the sick list.”

“Thank you very much, indeed,” Mrs. Conyers said, while a glance of satisfaction passed between Walter and Claire.  “That will be a satisfaction.  Indeed, I shall feel quite safe, so long as your son is here.  I wish now I had moved the things before; but I had hoped that you would have been allowed to remain in quarters here all the winter.  Had it not been for that, I should never have decided as I did.”

The next morning the troop started.

“The place seems strangely quiet,” Walter said, as he strolled out into the garden with Claire, after breakfast.  “It seems terrible to think that, in three or four days, it will be deserted altogether, and that you will have gone.”

“It is horrid,” the girl said, with tears gathering in her eyes.  “I hate King William and King James both,” she went on petulantly.  “Why can’t they fight their quarrel out alone, instead of troubling everyone else?  I don’t know which of them I hate the most.”

“But there is a compensation,” Walter said with a smile.

“I am sure I don’t see any compensation,” the girl said.  “What do you mean, Walter?”

“I mean,” Walter said, “that if they had not quarrelled, we might never have met.”

“There is something in that,” Claire said softly.  “No; I don’t know that I ought quite to hate them, after all.”

By which it will be seen that Walter Davenant and Claire Conyers had already arrived at a thorough understanding, as to their feelings towards each other.  After this, as was natural between young persons so situated, their talk wandered away into the future, and the present was already forgotten.

In the house, everyone was at work.  Mrs. Conyers’ servants had all returned, when she came back to the house, and these were now busy, with the assistance of Larry and the four troopers left behind, in taking down and packing pictures, taking up carpets, and getting furniture ready for removal.  In the afternoon, Walter assisted in the work of packing.  As he was dressing for dinner, Larry, as usual, came into his room.

“I suppose, your honour,” he said, after putting out Walter’s clothes, “you will be setting a watch tonight?”