“No,” he said, trying to speak lightly.  “My boy Larry has been trying to scare me about the rapparees, and, although I do not think that there is any danger to be apprehended from them, I do think that it would be just as well to hurry on your preparations, as much as possible, and for you and Claire to go in to Limerick tomorrow afternoon.  We can finish the packing up of the goods you wish to take, and any we cannot get off tomorrow can be sent in the next day.”

Mrs. Conyers looked grave.

“But we have heard of no rapparees in this neighbourhood, Walter,” she said.  “We have heard of sad excesses in some parts of the country, but nothing in this neighbourhood.”

“There has been small temptation for them about here,” Walter said, “for every house within miles was stripped by the Williamites.  Catholic or Protestant was all the same to them.  Besides, they knew well that Sarsfield’s horse would soon have put a stop to that sort of thing.  Now, I do not wish to alarm you in the slightest, and I do not think that there is any real cause for anxiety.  Even if they are in the neighbourhood, the rapparees will hardly venture an attack upon a house occupied by even a few of our troops.  Still, it is always wisest to be prepared, and therefore, I should like for us to arrange exactly what had best be done in the event of an attack.  Of course, I shall see that all the doors and the lower windows are securely fastened, and I shall have the men from the stables into the house, so we shall be nine or ten men in all; enough, I hope, for all circumstances.  Still, merely as a matter of discussion, let us suppose the worst.  Let us imagine the house surrounded, the doors burst in, and the resistance on the point of being overpowered.  What would be our best plan for making our escape?

“Do not be frightened, Claire,” he went on, seeing how pale the girl had become.  “Every general, when he is going to fight a battle, however sure he may be of success, decides upon the route by which his army shall retreat, in case of a defeat, and I am only taking the same precaution.”

“If there is to be a retreat made at all,” Mrs. Conyers said, “I prefer that it should be made now.  Do you really think that there is any real danger of attack?”

“I think that there is danger of attack, Mrs. Conyers; but I have no reason for supposing that there is any particular danger this night.”

“Then Claire and I will at once start for the town, under the escort of two of your men.  It would be folly, indeed, to run the risk of another attack here.  If the house is to be burned, it must be burned.  For, if they were beaten off once, they would come again when the house was undefended.  As for the things, should all be quiet tonight, they can be sent in tomorrow as arranged.  The things that are to go are all got together.”

“I do think that the best way,” Walter said.  “Of course, I shall ride in with you, and hand you over to the friends you are going to, in the town, and shall then come back here again with a light heart.  But I own that I am nervous at the thought of you and Claire being here, should the rapparees attack the house.”