What do you say,
Captain Davenant?"
"I should be sorry to give any advice, Mrs. Conyers. For the troops I can
answer. The protection you have received from General Sarsfield will be
sufficient to ensure you against any trouble whatever from them, but, as
to the peasantry, I cannot say. Every village within reach of William's
army, in its advance or retreat, has been destroyed, and the vilest
atrocities have been committed upon the people. The greater part of the
men have, in despair, taken up arms, and, when they get the chance, will
avenge their wrongs upon inoffensive Protestants who have ventured to
remain in their dwellings. Savagery has begot savagery, and even such a
protection order as you have received would go for little with these
half-maddened wretches. I should say, therefore, that so long as there
are a considerable body of troops at Limerick, so long you may safely
remain here, but no longer."
"At any rate, I will stay for a time," Mrs. Conyers said. "The winter may
bring peace; and I am very loath to abandon the house, to which my
husband is greatly attached, if it is possible to save it."
The party now fell back to the mode of life which had been interrupted by
the advance of William's army.
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