Ravenshoe. By Henry Kingsley.

FATHER TIERNAY'S OPINION ABOUT THE FAMILY. 83
recognized the voices, and would have distracted the priest's attention, and given those without warning that there were strangers
within; but in his anxiety to catch what was said, he was not
ready enough, and they both heard this.
The man's voice said, fiercely, "You did."
The woman's voice said, after a wild sob, "I did not."
"You did. I saw you. You are a liar as well as "
"I swear I did n't. Strike me dead, Bill, if there's been anything wrong."
" No. If I thought there had, I'd cut his throat first, and
yours after."
" If it had been him, Bill, you would n't have used me like
this."
"Never you mind that."
"You want to drive me mad. You do. You hate me. Mlaster
Charles hates me. O, I wish I was mad! "
" I'd sooner see you chained by the waist in the straw, than
see what I saw to-night." Then followed an oath.
The door was rudely opened, and there entered first of all our
old friend, Charles's groom, William, who seemed beside himself
with passion, and after him a figure which struck the good Irishman dumb with amazement and admiration, - a girl as beautiful
as the summer morning, with her bright brown hair tangled over
her forehead, and an expression of wild terror and wrath on
her face, such as one may conceive the old sculptor wished to
express, when he tried, and failed, to carve the face of the
Gorgon.
She glared on them both in her magnificent beauty only one
moment. Yet that look, as of a lost soul out of another world,
mad, hopeless, defiant, has never passed from the memory of
either of them.
She was gone in an instant into an inner room, and William
was standing looking savagely at the priest. In another moment
his eyes had wandered to Charles, and then his face grew smooth
and quiet, and he said,
"We've been quarrelling, sir; don't you and this good gentleman say anything about it. Master Charles, dear, she drives me
mad sometimes. Things are not going right with her."
Charles and the priest walked thoughtfully home together.'Allow me to say, Ravenshoe," said the priest, "that, as an
Irishman, I consider myself a judge of remarkable establishments. I must say, honestly, that:I have seldom or never met
with a great house with so many queer elements about it as
yours. You are all remarkable people. And, on my honor, I
think that our friend Mackworth is the most remarkable man
of the lot."