ing fellow, had one great vice,
which was being too fond of strong drink; and often, when the labour of
the day was over, Paddy would go to the village, and set in the public
houses; and, when betrayed in liquor, he would swear, and play a
thousand mad pranks on those around, and often had money to pay for the
windows he broke coming home; and, though he was very sorry the next
day, when sober, for the mischief he had done the preceding evening, he
had not resolution enough to avoid the cause.

Once Lary had carelessly levelled his drollery against Simpson, which so
roused the malevolent disposition of the groom, that he had from that
hour viewed Lary in the light of a bitter enemy, and vowed, the first
opportunity that offered, to repay with interest the Irishman's foolish
joke.

He knew that Lary would be absent that night at a large fair which was
held at a considerable town, a few miles off; and the poor Irishman had
not fortitude to resist a temptation that beset him in the shape of a
fair.

Simpson remembered that Lary kept his gardening tools in a small
outhouse, which he used for a workshop, and that all his implements were
fully marked with his name.

The place was easy of access, and Simpson soon procured from thence two
small hatchets, such as gardeners use in lopping small branches, that
resist the strength of a knife; and, after Mr. Hope's family were in
bed, he repaired to the place appointed, and, raising the ladder with as
little noise as possible, gave the promised signal.

It was three times repeated before George started from sleep, and for a
few minutes he remained unconscious of the meaning of so unusual a
sound.

Gradually, with awakening sense, recollection returned; and, springing
from his bed, George dressed himself, with a trembling hand, whilst, for
the first time, a sense of his degrading situation stole over his mind;
and his heart throbbed with feelings which till this moment had been
strangers in his bosom.

The moon shone brightly down upon the gardens beneath; and the deep
silence and serene beauty of the night filled his mind with new and
unknown fears.

The mischievous pranks he had hitherto played had been more the result
of violent and uncontrolled spirits,--the hasty flashings of an
impetuous temper, than any actual wish to commit crime: they had been
performed in the day, in the sight of the injured; but he was now going
to steal out like a thief in the night, to commit