Turning sick with apprehension, the old man hastily retraced his steps to the hostel, where he had left Agnes, and found her, for the first time since their departure, sunk into a kind of sleep or stupor from exhaustion, from which he could not bear to arouse her.

Watching her for some little time in silence, his attention was attracted by whispering voices, only separated from him by a thin partition.

They recounted and compared one by one the dress and peculiar characteristics of himself and his companion, seeming to compare it with a written list.

Then followed an argument as to whether it would not be better to arrest their progress at once, or send on to the Earl of Buchan, who was at a castle only five miles distant.

How it was determined Dermid knew not, for the voices faded in the distance; but he had heard enough, and it seemed indeed as if detention and restraint were at length at hand.