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THE OUTLAW.

CHAPTER I.

Wao seeks the better land? The wretched one
Who has no hope-to whom all change is gain-
He seeks the better land.

SOUTHEY'S Madoc.

TOWARDS the close of a summer evening, in the year 1814, two travellers of an unusual description arrived at the inn of a small village in the county of Limerick. The elder gentleman had scarcely alighted from his chaise, when he inquired the distance from Meadowscourt, the seat of sir Charles Southwell, a baro net of large property in the neighbourhood. Having procured the necessary informa tion and a messenger, he called for pen, ink,

VOL. I.

C

ink, and

paper,

and in a few minutes pro

duced the following billet:

"Mr. Pendennis presents his

compliments to sir Charles and lady Louisa Southwell, and begs to inform them that he is arrived, after a most interesting and delightful tour, at the King's Arms, Glenartrey; but before he has the gratification of paying his personal respects at Meadowscourt, thinks it right to apprise them that a gentleman is his companion, whom he would not presume to introduce without previous permission, as he might not prove so agreeable as Mr. Pendennis to sir Charles and lady Louisa Southwell."

Now it happened that this curious note was delivered at the moment the fashionable party assembled at Meadowscourt were at the very acme of ennui, and ready to welcome any novelty which promised

to

to rescue them from this calamitous condition. Sir Charles Southwell looked in the eyes of his daughter, and of Miss Dora O'Reilly, a good-humoured Irish girl of forty, whose business, pro tempore, it was to keep Miss Southwell in spirits. He read in both the liveliest satisfaction at the anticipation of a break in the circle."Bravo, Pendennis!" he exclaimed; " as original as ever!"

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"Do, lady Louisa," cried Miss O'Reilly, eagerly, "let us have the disagreeable gentleman;' he may prove a pleasant addition to the party."

Her ladyship, who seemed the only person indifferent to the event, having dispatched the expected invitation, the two young ladies attacked sir Charles Southwell at once with the important question "Who is Mr. Pendennis?"

"One of that valuable class of men," he replied, "who heroically devote their lives to the united miseries of an author and a special messenger, that no part of his ma

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jesty's dominions may remain unvisited or undescribed-a tourist, in short, with whom lady Louisa, in one of her angel visits' to London, renewed an acquaintance of long standing. Her ladyship was pleased to request, that if ever Mr. Pendennis honoured Ireland with his particular notice, he would not forget in what part of the island Meadowscourt was situated. The fatal hour is come; and, much as I detest notoriety, I already see my name embalmed in a well-turned period, commemorative of the munificence, patriotism, and elegant hospitality, of sir Charles Southwell, baronet, of Meadowscourt, county of Limerick."

As the moment approached, when the travellers might be expected, the ladies could not forbear anticipating what might be their probable appearance." Pendennis!" said Miss Southwell, with an air of recollection; " is not that the man lady Clancarras met in the Isle of Staffa, and whom she nicknamed, Red Roquelaure,

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from an enormous scarlet boat-cloak which he had very nearly been drowned in ?"

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"I long to see his disagreeable companion," added Miss O'Reilly. "Men almost always praise and dispraise one another in an inverse ratio to their merits."

"Order, order, Miss Dora O'Reilly!" cried sir Charles; "I protest I hear somebody coming."

By this time the guests were on the stairs." Now don't, for your life, talk of embalming and tourists," whispered Miss Southwell.

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"And not a word more," said Miss O'Reilly, "about the red roquelaure." The folding-doors flew open." Mr. Pendennis and Mr. Montfort" were announced. At sight of the former gentleman, the two ladies felt all their inclination to tittering return. Mr. Pendennis's features, coarse and irregular, were intersected in every direction by the deep seams and scars of the smallpox, which cruel disorder had hardly spared his eyes, that c 3 glimmered,

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