here, all of a sudden, all the
guests discovered that they had reached the limit of their stay: some
had to hasten home to receive visitors, others were engaged elsewhere;
there were innumerable calls of duty, and affection, and business, all
uttered with the accustomed sincerity, and listened to by my father
with a cold acquiescence which assuredly gave no fresh obstacles to the
departures.

As for my mother, her graciousness at the leave-takings only served to
increase the displeasure her former indifference had created. It seemed
as if her courtesy sprung out of the pleasure of being free from her
guests; and as she uttered some little polite phrase in her broken
language to each, the recipients looked anything but flattered at the
alteration of her manner. The Viceroy alone seemed to accept these
civilities literally; he vowed that he had never enjoyed three days more
in his life; that Castle Carew and its hospitalities would hold the very
first place in his future recollections of Ireland: these and such like,
uttered with the very best of manners, and with all the influence which
rank could bestow, actually delighted my mother, who was not slow
to contrast the high-bred tone of the great personage with the less
flattering deportment of her other guests.

It would not be a very pleasing task were we to play the eavesdropper,
and, following the various carriages of the departing company, hear the
comments now so freely bestowed on the host of Castle Carew. It is true
some were kind-hearted enough to see all the difficulties of my father's
position in the true light, and to hope that by time and a little
management these might be overcome.

There were others less generous; but what they said it would be scarcely
more graceful of me to repeat; enough that my mother was the especial
mark of the strictures,--the censure of my father went no further than
compassion! And oh, dear! when the world condescends to compassion,
what execration is equal to it! How beautifully it draws up the full
indictment of your failings, that it may extend its clemency to each!
How carefully does it discriminate between your depravity and your
weakness, that it may not wrong you! But how cutting is the hopefulness
it expresses for your future, by suggesting some utterly impossible road
for your reformation!

And now they were all gone,--all except Polly Fagan and MacNaghten; but
Dan, indeed, was part of the household, and came and went a