nt man, "I am glad that I can venture to
ride as far as Colonel B------'s to-morrow. You must accompany me; for
decidedly such brutality cannot be permitted to go unpunished."

Jemmy knew that the curate was his friend; and although he would
not himself have thought of summoning the master to answer for his
barbarity, yet he acquiesced in the curate's opinion. He stopped that
night in the house of the worthy man to whom Mr. O'Brien had recommended
him on his first entering the town. It appeared in the morning, however,
that he was unable to walk; the blows which he had received were then
felt by him to be more dangerous than had been supposed. Mr. O'Brien, on
being informed of this, procured a jaunting-car, on which they both sat,
and at an easy pace reached the Colonel's residence.

The curate was shown into an ante-room, and Jemmy sat in the hall: the
Colonel joined the former in a few minutes. He had been in England and
on the continent, accompanied by his family, for nearly the last three
years, but had just returned, in order to take possession of a large
property in land and money, to which he succeeded at a very critical
moment, for his own estates were heavily encumbered. He was now
proprietor of an additional estate, the rent-roll of which was six
thousand per annum, and also master of eighty-five thousand pounds in
the funds. Mr. O'Brien, after congratulating him upon his good fortune,
introduced the case of our hero as one which, in his opinion, called for
the Colonel's interposition as a magistrate.

"I have applied to you, sir," he proceeded, "rather than to any other
of the neighboring gentlemen, because I think this friendless lad has a
peculiar claim upon any good offices you could render him."

"A claim upon me! How is that, Mr. O'Brien?"

"The boy, sir, is not a native of this province. His father was formerly
a tenant of yours, a man, as I have reason to believe, remarkable for
good conduct and industry. It appears that his circumstances, so long as
he was your tenant, were those of a comfortable independent farmer. If
the story which his son relates be true--and I, for one, believe it--his
family have been dealt with in a manner unusually cruel and iniquitous.
Your present agent, Colonel, who is known in his own neighborhood by the
nickname of Yellow Sam, thrust him out of hia farm, when his wife was
sick, for the purpose of putting into it a man who had married his
illegitimate daughter. If this