forehead; but he breathed more freely as the figure went stealthily to the little window, at which he gave a gentle tap, stood for a minute, and then came back to the horse. Happily this time he stood nearer to the house, and farther from Connor, that is, he left his horse between Connor and himself; and this most probably saved the life of the poor spalpeen, who had yet as good a view as a cloudy night would permit, from nearly under the belly of the horse.

Two minutes more had scarcely elapsed, when Connor could discern the form of a female issuing from the door, and approaching the stack. In another moment she and the man were embracing each other, and in a short time the following dialogue ensued. "Then you've kept your word at last."

"How could I refuse you anything?

"Denis, do you now mean to say you will do it?"

"I do. I have made up my mind, for I cannot live without you any longer. But may I depend upon your promise afterwards?"

"You may. I will marry you in three months, and put perty in your

hands."

the

pro

"What property, Mary? What will it be, do you think?" "Oh, more than we shall ever want. The old man has five thousand in the bank, and a lease for ever of the farm, and has five hundred in his bureau. I saw him count the money out when he came from Limerick."

"But the will!—has he signed it?"

"He has-it was signed last week, and everything left to me. He has it in the bureau, under the bag of money."

"Then you think there would be no use waiting. might finish him in a natural way."

A few months

"And is it again you're hanging back? Oh, very well-just as you please. You'd better go home, then, the way you came.'

"Me go home, Mary !-me leave you, that I love to distraction!" "I was only trying you, Denis. But remember his son may be back from the Indies sooner than we expect, and take everything. No one knows he's alive but you and me."

Enough, jewel,-I'm ready. Have you sent the men and dogs away ?”

They all went last night with some cattle. Have you the pistols?'

"Yes-loaded heavily."

"Follow me now gently. We must do it without noise, if possible-and the travellers in the kitchen must bear all. I have got the marks of their shoes made all round the bed."

More of this dreadful dialogue Connor could not hear; but he saw the guilty couple walk to the door, and, entering the house, shut it after them, and all was still.

A thousand ideas had crowded on the poor spalpeen's mind as he lay in a protracted agony of fear and suspense. Once or twice he had felt himself on the point of starting up and giving the alarm; but there were none to help him, and his life would surely be sacrificed,—and then, thought he, what would Nelly and the children do? So he sat, or rather continued to lie still, (as well, perhaps, he might,) till the door shut, and then warily and gently stole from his

ambush; not, however, till he had returned thanks to God for his escape, and again in his heart gratefully thought of the honest farmer and his counsels. True, his conscience smote him, as it often did afterwards, that he could hit upon no stratagem nor think of any means to avert so foul a murder; but he used to say, "that fellow Denis was such a fierce giant of a fellow, that I durst not face him with his cocked pistols!" Yet in this strange terror and confusion of ideas one thought did occur to him, which many a bolder or cleverer man might not have hit upon. With great presence of mind, he resolved, before he left the yard, to make some distinct marks by which, if necessary, the villain might be identified; for, though fully satisfied as to the woman, he felt that he could not swear to a feature of the man's face, neither to his voice, as everything he had heard passed in a whisper.

Quickly acting upon this idea, and feeling for the penknife which he had purchased from the unhappy pedlars for his boy Jemmy, he laid hole of the great-coat which had been thrown across the saddle of the horse; and turning up the collar, he cut from the inside of it a small round piece of cloth, which he carefully put into his pocket. "By this, perhaps," exclaimed Connor to himself, "this villanous business may be discovered. And yet this token may be lost or stolen. What more can I do?" And with that he pierced with the sharp point of the knife three little holes in the middle of the horse's rein, so small that they could never be noticed by any one else. "These," added Connor, " may help likewise." And having thus performed all that he could do, or at least think of, in the business, the spalpeen stole as quietly as he could out of the yard, and with some difficulty regained the high road.

As the day broke, Connor found himself once more, after an absence of three years, in the county of Clare. He had now a march of not more than twenty-eight miles to his village; and, as he passed cabin after cabin, he began to feel himself almost at home. The very air of his native hills invigorated his footsteps, and in idea he seemed almost upon the threshold of his own cabin.

There was an acquaintance of his who lived at Broadford, a picturesque and neat little village lying at the extremity of a wild mountain range, which extends from Killaloe to that neighbourhood; and here he stopped, as other travellers generally do, and was satisfied with an excellent breakfast. After all his fatigue and loss of rest, it is no wonder that he should yield to the solicitation of his friend," just to take a stretch upon his bed." He did so, nor did he awake till the afternoon. Thus it was nearly nine at night ere he passed through the town of Corrofin, and past ten before he reached his own cabin.

Connor paused a while before the door, and then looked eagerly in through the little window. However humble, the place had a tidy look, such as his faithful Nelly had always preserved about it. He could see his bed by the light of a fire, which seemed to have been recently made up, and was burning brightly, as if to welcome and cheer his heart. He was also able to distinguish his homely chairs and dresser just as he had left them, but, as he fancied, in still better order.

Those who have been so long separated from objects most dear and tender to the soul of man may well imagine the feelings of his,

as he gently raised the latch, and entered within. All was still and tranquil; so, silently shutting the door, he approached the wellknown bed, and stooped eagerly forward to look at his beloved Nelly.

But oh! horror of horrors !

There indeed lay Nelly, healthy, fresh, and buxom as ever,-but by her side a fine young man, a stranger to his sight, was sleeping! His eyebrows and whiskers were black, and his cheeks were ruddy. Could such a sight meet his affrighted senses without inflaming his passion? Furious and distracted, Connor wrung his hands in agony, and reeling towards the fire-place, rested his head for a moment on his arms, and then seized an axe, which had been placed there as if to answer some fatal purpose, hut doubtless after having been used for cutting up wood.

To seize the axe was the work of an instant, and in the next it was raised above his head, and about to descend upon his victim. Oh! how numerous and lamentable are such examples of blind and ungovernable rage! how many deaths have we to deplore, how many heart-breaking tragedies, how many years of unavailing sorrow and repentance to describe, as we retrace the mournful histories of those who, instigated by sudden anger, give way to its maddening influence, and in one unhappy moment do that which must embitter every succeeding day of their existence !

But I am happy to say it was not exactly so with our friend Connor. At that eventful moment his good fortune interposed; and providentially calling to mind the words which his better angel, the good farmer, had taken such extraordinary pains to rivet on his memory, he dropped his arm, and silently repeated the third and LAST piece of advice," Never do anything in a hurry at night, that you might be sorry for the following morning."

"There is, unhappily," said he to himself, "but little doubt of my wife's guilt; for there she is sleeping with her paramour. And did not these two eyes of mine behold last night a guilty woman, who doubtless soon afterwards assisted in the murder of her husband? But I have been twice saved by following Fitzpatrick's counsel, and will not now disregard it, nor can I, by virtue of my oath. Moreover," added he, placing the axe near him, " I have this axe here still in readiness, which will prevent that young fellow from quitting my house in a hurry." And with that Connor sat himself down upon a chair near the fire, and looked wistfully towards

it.

Whether any of these ejaculations had escaped him audibly or not, will probably remain undecided, Connor not having been able to recollect himself upon this point; but, from whatever cause it might have been, he soon heard a loud ejaculation of surprise, and a strong voice exclaiming,

"Ŏmother, mother, wake up! wake up! There's father sitting by the fire!"

A cry of joy was then uttered by poor Nelly. Up she started all in a hurry and fluster (as we call it), and snatching some garment which she drew round her, jumped out of bed, and had her arms round Connor's neck, and began to hug and kiss him, as if the least she intended to do was to smother" the very life out of him en

tirely." But he, astonished,-nay, almost stupified,-still looked in doubt, till the strapping youth exclaimed,

"O father, and have you forgot your son Jemmy?"

And now the truth flashed upon Connor's mind; for, by a strange perversity of imagination, he had expected, though after an absence of three years, to find all his children the exact size, height, figure, and shape he left them, never thinking of that law of dame Nature, which, after duly providing for the increase of the human species, urges her to take special care not to keep her progeny all their lives in swaddling clothes. And, in sober truth, does not her ladyship's chief occupation seem to consist in ushering her sons and daughters in at one door, and dismissing them at another, as rapidly as possible?

Suffice it now to say, that every succeeding minute removed a load of uncertainty from Connor's breast, and, in accents sufficiently audible, he might have been heard invoking a thousand thanks and blessings on Fitzpatrick's head.

Nelly now began to dress herself in good earnest; Jemmy did the same. The inmates of a neighbouring bed awakened one after another, and again Connor was almost hugged, kissed, and squeezed to death. Indeed, it was well that he in his turn had not hugged and squeezed others to death likewise; but at this instant a happier circle never gathered round a cabin fire. All was joy and exultation, and it was the general decision that sleep should be banished, or at least that it would be impossible to settle again to rest till Connor had recounted all his adventures.

To the questions he had put to Nelly he had received tolerably satisfactory replies. It seems that a worthy and excellent family of wealth and importance lived within two miles of them, who had been most generous and kind to her and her children. With the occasional assistance which the poor woman had received from Mr. and Mrs. Corbett, and her own exertions, she had contrived, aided by Jemmy's industry, to struggle on better than could have been expected until lately, when several misfortunes had occurred, and, among the rest, the death of a pig, and the destruction of their tato crop by an inundation. It was true, Nelly added, they had saved a good stock of turf, and drawn home some wood which Mr. Corbett had given them; but equally evident that, without potatoes, they must have been driven to seek a scanty support from the charity of their neighbours.

"But now," cried Nelly, "we're safe, thank God!"

po

"The Lord's will be done!" mournfully ejaculated Connor. "We must always submit to that," said Nelly. “But sure you're not come back to us empty-handed, anyhow! Have you saved nothing in the three years, and yourself so stout and hearty?"

"Nothing, agra! nothing!-barring these three or four shillings, and the sixpennies and halfpence," which the poor man took from his pocket, and pressed into her hand with a look of despair.

The family sat mute and stupified. They had now scarcely a ray of hope; for the winter was fast closing in. Such as could save their potatoes had done so; while their own miserable one acre lay covered with water; nor was there a probability of any work to be earned by those ever most anxious for employment. The whole

scene was touching, and would have formed a group which'a painter might have taken a fearful interest in portraying.

Who that has become acquainted with the habits of this extraordinary people, their deep affections, their feelings ever fluctuating, but must have observed those sudden transitions, which, if they cause depression one moment, are accompanied by a buoyancy of thought, or succeeded by a lightness of spirit, and a patience in misfortune, that will seldom permit them to continue long in hopelessness? As the ocean birds-frequently lost sight of between the waves of the Atlantic, which spend their fury upon this coast,-are quickly observed again upon the very summit of succeeding billows, so do my poor countrymen brave the attacks of fortune. They are seldom exposed to a storm in which they do not fancy at least that they can discern the rainbow of HOPE, and, while possessed of life and health, seize the hand of comfort with avidity, and even in hunger can feast upon brighter visions for the future!

And so it was with the household now assembled. A cloud had passed over each face, but it was quickly dispelled by a general exclamation of pleasure, as Connor prepared to relate the history of his adventures.

During the whole of his recital the family sat, sometimes motionless in suspense, and at other times they would clasp their hands, or utter various expressions suited to the occasion. As, for instance, when Connor described the morning of his departure from Fitzpatrick's, young Jemmy rose, and swore he would "set out for Leinster the next morning, and kill the infernal scoundrel if he did not pay him every farthing of the money he had cheated his father of." To which Connor quietly replied, "Wait awhile, Jemmy."

Nelly was very curious in her questions about Mrs. Fitzpatrick, and paid great attention to the baking scene, asking many particulars as to that good woman's method of kneading her bread.

The adventure with the pedlars and escape from the robbers caused a great and general sensation: nor did Nelly omit to ask for her scissars, or Jemmy for his penknife,-articles which, from the splendour of their polish, excited universal delight and praise. But when Connor began to relate the awful occurrences of the preceding night, the young people pressed closer and closer together, and little Biddy hid her face in her mother's bosom. Jemmy turned pale and red by turns, and Nelly, catching fast hold of Connor's arm, became nearly breathless. But probably, the greatest interest of all was excited when he related his feelings on coming home; his absolutely not knowing Jemmy for the big whiskers! and Jemmy's narrow escape from having head, whiskers, and all, cut to pieces with the axe; and then, after a shudder, succeeded such a roar of laughter as was almost loud enough to waken up all the neighbours, and did actually and materially disturb the cocks and hens roosting over their heads.

CHAPTER IV.

Hints to Boz.-Kilkenny bread better than "hot muffins and crumpets," and the "Punctual Delivery Company " outdone.-Limerick Criminal Court.-Hunting extraordinary.-Execution." All's well that ends well."-Finis.

AT last Connor's history being ended, and the conclusion of his recital having fairly released the tongues of the party, they all

VOL. VI.

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