ong, maybe, you'll have to
do that same; but when I go you 'll be heir to what I have. 'Tis more,
perhaps, than many supposes, looking at the coat and the gaiters I am
wearin'. Mind, Maurice, I don't want you, nor I don't expect you, to
turn farmer like myself. You need never turn a hand to anything. You 'll
have your horse to ride--two, if you like it. Your time will be all your
own, so that you spend a little of it now and then with me, and as much
divarsion as ever you care for.'

I have condensed into a few words the substance of a conversation
which lasted till we reached Baldoyle; and passing through that not
over-imposing village, gained the neighbourhood of the sea-shore, along
which stretched the farm of the 'Black Pits,' a name derived, I was
told, from certain black holes that were dug in the sands by fishermen
in former times, when the salt tide washed over the pleasant fields
where corn was now growing. A long, low, thatched cabin, with far more
indications of room and comfort than pretension to the picturesque,
stood facing the sea. There were neither trees nor shrubs around it,
and the aspect of the spot was bleak and cheerless enough, a colouring a
dark November day did nothing to dispel.

It possessed one charm, however; and had it been a hundred times
inferior to what it was, that one would have compensated for all else--a
hearty welcome met me at the door, and the words, 'This is your home,
Maurice,' filled my heart with happiness.

Were I to suffer myself to dwell even in thought on this period of my
life, I feel how insensibly I should be led away into an inexcusable
prolixity. The little meaningless incidents of my daily life, all so
engraven on my memory still, occupied me pleasantly from day till
night. Not only the master of myself and my own time, I was master of
everything around me. Uncle Pat, as he loved to call himself, treated me
with a degree of respect that was almost painful to me, and only when
we were alone together did he relapse into the intimacy of equality. Two
first-rate hunters stood in my stable; a stout-built half-deck boat lay
at my command beside the quay; I had my gun and my greyhounds; books,
journals; everything, in short, that a liberal purse and a kind spirit
could confer--all but acquaintance. Of these I possessed absolutely
none. Too proud to descend to intimacy with the farmers and small
shopkeepers of the neighbourhood, my position excluded me from
acquaintance w