“IT TOLD YOU SO” 365 
_ heart-softening business in such matter-of-fact 
_ fashion that their hearts must have lost contour 
before the voyage was half over. Polly dismissed 
them from her mind with a sigh of satisfaction, 
and I then hoped that she would find some time 
to devote to me, but I was disappointed. She 
assured me that those two were safely locked in 
the fold, but that she could not “set her mind at 
rest” until the other two were safe. After that 
she promised to take me in hand; whether for 
reward or for punishment left me guessing. 
The six and a half days finally came to an end, 
and we debarked for Queenstown. The journey 
across Ireland was made as quickly as slow trains 
and a circuitous route would permit, and we 
reached Sligo on the second day. Sir Thomas’s 
agent met us, and we drove at once to the “ little 
castle out from Sligo.” It proved to be a very 
old little castle, four miles out, overlooking the 
bay. It was low and flat, with thick walls of 
heavy stone pierced by a few small windows, 
and a broad door made of black Irish oak heavily 
studded with iron. From one corner rose a 
square tower, thirty feet or more in height, cov- 
ered with wild vines that twined in and out 
through the narrow, unglazed windows. 
Within was a broad, low hall, from which 
opened four rooms of nearly equal size. There 
was little evidence that the castle had been in- 
habited during recent years, though there was an 
ancient woman care-taker who opened the great 
