fond old Robin's devoted attachment to me-the generous unsuspecting hospitality, the almost parental kindness bestowed on me by the man whose only daughter, the fond deluded Maria -oh! it is not to be written!-the too evident interest I had already gained in the heart of the most lovely and purest of her sex-all these thoughts crowded on my oppressed memory. And, to add to the score of my offences, the cold, the placid and once insensible heart and passions of the poor widow had been aroused; and like the long concealed diamond of the mine dragged into life and lustre only to be sullied and dishonoured. "So young!-and yet so fraught with sin," thought I; what yet is to follow? But the spark of better feelings, though obscured, was not extinguished. As the faithful recorder of my early faults and failings, I conceal no portion of them; a more pleasing task will, I trust, devolve on me in the progress of my tale. After a restless sleep of a few hours, I took an early breakfast, and was on horseback by eight o'clock. The morning lowered; and the murky clouds hung heavily over the Hills of Tara. Various were the reasons urged by my kind (now too fond) hostess, to induce me to defer my visit: and at length, when seeing me determined to go, she cried out, "Why, then, God be with you, a vourneen!" I almost fell from the saddle at the awful association of that sacred name with my then unhallowed purpose; but putting old Robin's mare to a speed to which she was ill accustomed, I cantered up the desolate street, and turning off abruptly for the Trim road, soon lost sight of Manor Rawdon. The laborious breathing of the old mare soon apprized me of my incautious haste. I pulled up, and gently walked along until I came in sight of Laracor. My readers may recollect that the eccentric and even now ill understood personage, Jonathan Swift, better known as Dean Swift, when in England in the early part of the last century, formed a connexion of an extraordinary nature with a young female named Mistress Johnson, who afterwards, on the death of the relative from whom she inherited a small annuity, adequate however to all her wants, was induced to follow him to Ireland. Whatever was the inducement held out to her by the Dean, it remains to this hour an impenetrable mystery; but to Ireland she came on his invitation, and in the parish of Laracor, of which he was then the incumbent, he placed this unhappy lady, whom he called Stella, in an humble habitation, to which he gave the name of "Quilca." After the lapse of three quarters of a century, a portion of this identical "Quilca," now reduced to a heap of ruins, became the undisputed refuge and residence of the same Honour Carey, who now figures in my story; and in this remarkable spot, where the road suddenly turns at a right angle, I found myself at nine of the clock that morning. An hour had nearly elapsed, during which I asked a thousand questions, ere Maria appeared, looking jaded and care-worn. I should be ashamed to confess I could look upon her with other feelings than those of the most tender solicitude. The apology for a couch which the wretched cabin afforded served us for a seat; while Maria, closely pressed to my heart, sat beside me. I kissed away the fast-falling tears ere I ventured to ask the cause of their flowing; and when I did, sobs, and fresh tears, and burning kisses were the only reply. The old woman had disappeared, at what precise moment I knew not, but we were alone! How long we remained so, let those tell who measure time by hours and moments; the vigorous sun had pierced through the watery cloud, and nearly reached its zenith, when the hag re-admitted light into her wretched abode by partly removing the door, and then with whispers to Maria, implying that all was clear, they both prepared to depart. Little time was passed in leave-taking, and none in explanation of this mysteriously concerted interview. One sentence, "You shall know all"-one last long kiss, the last ever shared, concluded the meeting! My eyes followed the ill-matched pair until their figures faded from my view: they evidently took the same route which on a former occasion was pursued by the old woman. The whole appeared as a dream, in which pleasure and pain struggled for the mastery over my senses. Maria never before appeared so interesting or so lovely to my eyes: I strained them on her fastly receding form, and at the last look uttered a blessing on her. My old mare, always patient, had never more occasion for that virtue than at that very moment. She stood bridle-bound under the branch of the elder; her flanks, her eyes, and nostrils assailed by myriads of blood-sucking flies, the harbingers of rain. My coming to her rescue was a most grateful relief; replacing the rude security of the stone against the door of the hovel, I remounted, and was in due time at my quarters. Here a fresh difficulty assailed me. An action had been fought in Flanders, which it became the policy of the government to blazon forth as a victory; and I had scarcely time to dismount ere old Robin, who had just heard the rumour at the post-office, most anxiously inquired into the particulars, which, he concluded, I must have heard at the head-quarters of the *** militia. Having listened to as much of his version of the story as would afford me some clew, and having but two days before very carefully examined on the map the position of the belligerents, I affected to know more than I thought it prudent to express; but touching the chord which I knew would be most pleasing to him, I remarked-" Your beloved Lord has nobly sustained the honour of his name and blood." A blessing on that name, and a tear of joyful pride followed this random intelligence; but in extolling the noble courage of a Moira, who could risk the truth? Evading the anxious Robin's questions with all my address, I was in a few hours enabled to gratify his wishes, by affording him a sight of the newspaper brought to me from Trim, with a very obliging note from the Major, offering me the service of his drums and fifes at the ensuing fair of Templemore. To prepare my party, now increased to fourteen by the acquisition of some fine youthful recruits, for this forthcoming display, was a welcome employment to my mind; and the ambitious dreams of the young soldier dissipated for the time those painful thoughts which the reflections of the young libertine called up. I confined myself to the verge of our little village for some days, and, in the buoyant spirit of youth, had at times forgotten I was the guilty thing my folly made me, when the visit of that mysterious personage, Honour Carey, opened every wound of my heart afresh. She was at this time the bearer of neither letter nor message. Watching for me in one of my solitary walks, when the falling twilight scarcely enabled me to discover her figure, she suddenly broke on my view. I involuntarily held out my hand as if expecting a letter; hers hung by her side immoveable. Instead of bringing me information, she impatiently inquired whether I had not something to tell her: on replying no, she appeared not only agitated but sorrowful, and after a pause she spoke, not to me, but to her、 self, in these words: "Well, darling! may be they'll not let you write; but no matter. Please God, I'll see you in spite of them before Saturday night, any how." So bestowing on me an Irish blessing, she was about to depart, when I pressed some silver into her hand, and begged her to give me some information as to Miss Maria; but all that she afforded me was, that she was "off" by desire of the master to Connought; but more she would not tell: indeed she expected from me that information which I in vain sought from her. I no longer urged her stay, and she was in a few moments lost in the shade of the departing day. The perturbation of my mind now found a temporary relief in sleep. But my morning's reflections overwhelmed me with remorse; and I looked forward to the fair-day with the same feeling that the criminal would to that of his trial. CHAPTER XXXV. "And what's her history? A blank, my lord; she never told her love; THE dreaded day arrived, however, and at an early hour my party were on the march, presenting an appearance so clean and soldier-like, that even in these days of military improvement it would not have shamed their leader. Our entrance to the town was greatly impeded by the droves of cattle pouring in from all quarters, generally as wild as the natives of the Llanos; and sad was the confusion and dismay caused by the rattling sound of the two best drums of the militia, to which my friend the major had added the service of his fife-major, who, in addition to his other accomplishments, was the very best piper on the Leinster side of the Shannon. Our banners having been hung "upon the outer walls" of the Nag's head, and our head-quarters for the day established, I hastened to pay my respects to Mr. Temple. This was to him a busy day: surrounded by dozens of persons, he found means, however, to disengage himself for a minute, while bestowing on me his usually kind and gracious reception, which, while it stung me to the heart at my own unworthiness, convinced me that his daughter's removal was in no manner connected with my name or proceedings. He turned me loose into the house to make myself "at home," as he expressed it, while he pursued his occupations with the many who were in attendance on him. The announcement of my name soon brought the lovely Maria, for I hated the sound of Mrs. Tom, to my presence: with that amiability and sweetness of manner which scorns all affected reserve, she almost flew to receive my extended hand, which, catching both of hers, eagerly guided them to my lips; an action which she hardly opposed, though it was one she evidently would have avoided. Falsehood and hypocrisy almost strangled the question in my throat, when I faintly asked for her sister; and my effort to appear surprised when informed she had gone to Carrick for a month on a visit, would have struck any one less artless, and less honourable than that matchless woman! A stranger to falsehood and dissimulation herself, the idea of their existence in my breast never entered her virtuous mind. In the midst of her delicate reproaches for leaving the house so suddenly on my last appearance there, she betrayed so much emotion when alluding to the painful circumstances that led to it, that if my heart had not before idolized her, gratitude alone would have made me her slave for ever. The cause of that meeting had never been explained to her, and it was for me too tender a subject to enter on, professing and feeling, as I did, the most devoted though hopeless passion for herself. All I could venture to say was, that some busy person had poisoned Mr. Arabin's mind with a belief that, by taking some unwarrantable freedoms with his name, I had caused some coolness between Miss Temple and himself; but that, before we separated, all his suspicions had been removed, and I expressed my belief that he would be the first person to defend my name against any dishonourable attack. A deep blush, the first I ever saw tinge her lovely face, gave it an additional interest and beauty as she uttered, "Poor Maria!" She had now evidently gone too far to preserve longer silence on a subject which affected her gentle heart; and proceeded to give me that history of Lieutenant Arabin's love, which follows. "Shortly after I came from India-" "From India!" I exclaimed with unfeigned astonishment; "from India! O then I was not mistaken; you are not the creature of our grosser clime. Forgive me, and proceed." "About six months after I came from India," continued the charmer, "my uncle came to Bath, to receive me from the hands of the lady to whose care I had been entrusted by my mother." Here a sigh swelled her snowy bosom, and tears filled her eyes-they were not so much the tears of tender recollection as those of suppressed indignation, struggling for concealment. "Maria accompanied him: warm-hearted, generous, and susceptible, beautiful in face and figure, and with all her country's freedom of manner, she was an object of universal admiration. It being a period of the year when Mr. Temple's absence from Ireland could best be admitted, he prolonged his stay in England for some months: with circumstances equal to the indulgence of every liberal feeling, he gave us the unrestrained enjoyment of every amusement that gay region afforded. Our stay was one unvaried round of pleasure; but certain circumstances in my humble history which my heart could not overcome, cast a shade of sorrow over me, which not all the affectionate solicitude of my cousin and kind uncle (to me a father) could remove. "The crowded assembly, the gaiety of the gardens, or the lovely promenades, seemed to me dull and monotonous; while to |