perdu till evening, provide a carriage, return at midnight, and, with the assistance of his fair ally, enter the park and bear away his mistress.

All this was accordingly put in train. Denis received orders of readiness; and by eleven o'clock next morning, the major and his man were on the road, after taking an affectionate farewell of the landlord and the curious gentleman with the red nose.

Allerton was but eight miles distant, and there my father established his head-quarters. The day, "big with the

fate" of my parents, wore heavily through. The major was uncomfortable, and so was the major's man for Denis was on duty; and when on duty, Denis, from military habitude, dispensed with the comforts of the bottle, to which on other occasions it was his fancy to apply.

Time kept moving, evening came on apace, and the weather, threatening since morning, hourly grew worse. The wind rose, the rain fell sharply against the casement, as the cold shower was driven on by frequent gusts. The moon was hidden behind an impenetrable mass of clouds, and night fell with all that could render it dreary and unpropitious.

My father and his man Denis were not free from those superstitious fancies to which the natives of the "land of saints" are generally prone; and both, in private, drew from this elemental change, sinister auguries touching the success of their nocturnal expedition.

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Eight, nine, ten, pealed from the town-clock. My father roused himself for action, and Denis fortified his person again harm" by turning down a full bumper of cogniac. A bill was called, a post-chaise ordered round instanter; and while Mr. O'Brien saw his effects duly deposited in the carriage, the major carefully examined the loading of his pistols. At half-past ten the master and man ascended the vehicle, and, to the astonishment of the household of the Black Bull, drove from that comfortable house of accommodation, upon a night when a Christian would not reject the dog of his enemy.

Ir was not until the travellers had cleared the streets of Allerton that they were fully aware of the dreary drive before them. The night was pitch-dark; the carriage unprovided with lamps; while through the leafless hedgerows the wind howled mournfully. How different was this from the preceding evening all then so calm and bright and exhilarating. It was

"But the daylight sick, Looking a little paler."

Notwithstanding the difficulty attendant upon driving over intricate cross-roads, they reached their destination in safety, and while the carriage was placed at a convenient distance from the park-gate, the steeple-clock of Stainsbury struck twelve.

At the Cross Keys the inmates had retired to rest. The sign-board creaked in the breeze; the mastiff was sleeping before the kitchen-fire; the hostler was snoring in his crib; and the dairy-maid dreaming of new ribands, and the next fair. There was but one waking, and that one was the pretty Phoebe. My father approached the casement silently, where, to direct him, a flickering light was visible. His tap was answered promptly; — the maid of the inn appeared, dressed and ready to accompany him; and, as the window was low, the gallant major

received her in his arms, and deposited her safely on the ground.

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Laws, how you do stop one's breath!" said the soubrette, archly. "I should suppose on this occasion you had no kisses to dispose of. How I pity Miss Ellen she will be suffocated before you reach Gretna. But hush! - we must be silent. I am half afraid to venture, for I am certain Mr. Harrison's keepers are afoot. There has been sad havoc lately among the pheasants, and the squire is outrageous, and determined to detect the poachers. Little does he imagine, while he is intent only on preserving game, that it would be far more necessary for him to protect his daughter. His keepers were drinking at the tap this evening, with three or four discharged soldiers whom he has hired as assistants. Are we not a daring party to venture to the house at midnight? But, major, I was so frightened after you left us this morning. You were scarcely clear of the village, before came down that nasty fellow with the red nose, whom you saw at the bar when you were bidding me good-bye. And Lord! he did so question me about you. Well, when he was gone some time, the squire himself rode up to the door, and called out father. What passed I cannot guess, but the conversation was very earnest, and I half-imagined that I overheard your name. Yet, if Miss Ellen has been prudent, and made preparations for her journey without creating suspicion, we can have little to fear. God grant we may not be interrupted! a failure now would ruin your hopes and her happiness."

While Phoebe was speaking, the party notwithstanding the extreme darkness, reached the wicket and unlocked the door, and advancing cautiously through the shrubbery, halted at the clump of evergreens which had sheltered the gallant major on the preceding evening.

Their vigil was a short one. In a few minutes the drawing-room window opened, and a figure was indistinctly seen. My father stepped silently from his ambuscade. "Ellen, my own loved Ellen! he murmured. "I am ready, dear Blake," replied a sweet voice, whose smothered sobs told how fearfully she was agitated.

"Haste, gentle love!" said the enamoured soldier, as he received the trembling girl in his arms, and pressed her to his bosom tenderly.

"Arrah! bedershin. * No love-making, major dear, if you plase at present," said Mr. O'Brien as he shouldered a trunk.

"On, gallant sir," whispered Phoebe, who took possession of a dressing-case, while the lover passed his arm for support around the beautiful refugee, and endeavoured to assure her that all danger was at an end. And so thought Denis O'Brien.

"Come along, Phaybe, my jewel!" he exclaimed to his fair companion. "Would ye turn the light of yeer eye, if ye plase, upon the path, for a darker night a man niver marched on. Holy Patrick!" he continued, "it's yourself that stood our friend. They may talk of St. George and St. Denis - and he's my own blessed namesake; but Patrick awourneein, give me yourself at a pinch against the calendar. By all that's beautiful, you'r the dacentist saint that ever a sinner crooked a leg to!"

"Silence!" said my father, interrupting this ebullition of pious gratitude. "In a few minutes, my Ellen, we will be secure from all pursuit. Forward!"

"Stop!" thundered a loud voice, as five or six men sprang from the evergreens where they had been concealed, and threw themselves upon the refugees. An instant scuffle succeeded. The women shrieked; Denis asked no questions, but pitched away the trunk, and hit down two of the assailants, while his master prostrated the man who seized him, and shook himself by a powerful exertion clear of a second opponent. Ellen clung to her lover's arm ; and though she impeded his efforts at defence, her presence protected him from the violence of the attacking party, who appeared to turn their chief vengeance against the unlucky attendant. But Denis, to use the parlance of "the fancy," was a "troublesome customer. He was

not a person to be easily overpowered. Many a hard knock he received, and to all he made a conscientious return.

* Anglicè. Be quiet!

His earlier accomplishments in hurling and foot-ball were not in this extremity forgotten. He was reputed in Connaught to be "mighty handy with the foot" the darkness was favourable to the exercise of this talent; and it was rather difficult to decide whether the feet or fists of Mr. O'Brien were most efficient.

While the man was offering a desperate resistance, the master's hot temper fired at this attempt to arrest him. To rob him of his mistress, was to rend the deer from the tiger.

"Stand off!" he cried, with a deep imprecation, I'll make ghosts of some of you!”

66 or

"Lay hold of him!" responded the voice of one, who seemed the leader of the rest.

Ellen clung wildly to her lover's arm, for one of them had grasped her cloak, and he drew a pistol from his bosom.

"Now, by my soul's hope," he exclaimed, "the first man that lays a finger on the lady is a corpse!" Daunted by the determination with which it was apparent the lover would protect his mistress, the men fell back save one, and he grappled at the major. "Ha, fellow! wilt thou cross me? Lift but a finger, and I drive a bullet through your heart!" and he pressed the muzzle of the weapon against the stranger's breast. But Ellen shrieked

"Oh! stop

father!"

- hold your hand - it is

- it is my

Nay, fear not, my love. Stand back, sir! Unhand my servant, fellows- What would you with us?"

"Give up your arms," said the leader. "When I give up my life, and not till then," was the reply.

Surrender!" exclaimed the father of Ellen.

"Oh do, dear, dear Blake't is madness to resist," cried the fainting girl. "What, and lose thee? Never!" "You will not lose me," she said in a low firm tone; "none shall separate us now."

"We will accompany you, sir," said my father, addressing Mr. Harrison: "walk on, we follow ; and the major uncocked and returned the pistol to his breast, and sup