ance that I have not expended my labor in vain,
and that this same house may be yet my own. Mine!" cried he, in
ecstasy,--"mine those swelling woods, that princely park; the high
position which wealth bestows, and the power that I could speedily
accomplish in political life. There may be many who have more ambition
to strive for: I 'll swear there are few men living have more grudges to
pay off."

And with this speech, uttered in an accent of withering hate and
scorn, he again returned to gaze at the open parchment. The document,
surmounted by the royal arms, and engrossed in a stiff old-fashioned
hand, was a free pardon accorded by his Majesty George the Second to
Miles Hardress Corrigan, and a full and unqualified restoration to his
once forfeited estates. Certain legal formalities were also enjoined to
be taken, and certain oaths to be made, as the recognition of this act
of his sovereign's grace.

Such was the important document on which now he gazed, reading and
re-reading it, till every word became riveted on his memory.

CHAPTER XXXI. THE GUESTS BEGIN TO ARRIVE.

"Hark they come! they come!"

An unusual bustle and commotion in the little inn awoke Linton early
on the following morning. These were caused by the arrival of a host of
cooks, coachmen, grooms, footmen, and scullions, with a due proportion
of the other sex, all engaged in London, and despatched--"as per
order"--to form the household of Tubbermore.

As Linton proceeded with his dressing, he overheard the multifarious
complaints and lamentations of this town-reared population over the dirt
and destitution of their newly adopted land,--criticisms which, as
they scrupled not to detail aloud, evoked rejoinders not a whit more
complimentary to the Saxon; the hostess of the Goat--being an energetic
disciple of that great authority who has pronounced both the land and
its people as the paragons of creation--leading the van of the attack,
and certainly making up for any deficiencies in her cause by the force
of her eloquence.

"Arrah! who wanted ye here at all?" said she, addressing the circle,
stunned into silence by her volubility. "Who axed ye? Was it to plaze
us, or to fill yer pockets with the goold of ould Ireland, ye kem? Oh,
murther! murther!--is n't it the sin and the shame to think how the
craytures is eatin' us up! Faix! maybe ye 'll be sorry enough for it
yet. There's more than one amongst you would like to be safe home again,