ause or other, less noticed than
others of the regiment by the neighbouring gentry, strolled about the
town, quizzing and laughing at the humble townsfolk, and endeavouring,
by looks of most questionable gallantry, to impress the female
population with a sense of their merits.

After all, mankind is pretty much the same in every country and every
age--some men ambitioning the credit of virtues the very garb of which
they know not; others, and a large class too, seeking for the reputation
of vices the world palliates with the appellation of 'fashionable.' We
laugh at the old courtier of Louis xiv.'s time, who in the flattery
of the age he lived in preferred being called a _scelerat_, an _infame
scelerat_, that by the excesses _he_ professed the vicious habits of the
sovereign might seem less striking; and yet we see the very same thing
under our own eyes every day we live.

But to return. There was nothing to delay me longer at Loughrea. Poor
Joe was so nearly recovered that in a few days more it was hoped he
might leave his bed. He was in kind hands, however, and I had taken
every precaution that he should want for nothing in my absence.
I listened, then, with pleasure to Father Tom's detail of all his
preparations; and although I knew not whither we were going, nor how
long the journey was likely to prove, yet I looked forward to it with
pleasure, and only longed for the hour of setting out.

As the evening drew near, I looked anxiously out for the good father's
arrival. He had promised to come in early with Major Mahon, whom I had
not seen for the two days previous--the Major being deeply engaged in
consultations with his lawyer regarding an approaching trial at the
assizes. Although I could gather from his manner, as well as from the
priest's, that something of moment impended, yet as neither of them
more than alluded to the circumstance, I knew nothing of what was going
forward.

It was eight o'clock when Father Tom made his appearance. He came alone,
and by his flurried look and excited manner I saw there was something
wrong.

'What is it, father?' said I. 'Where is the Major?'

'Och, confound him! they have taken him at last,' said he, wiping his
forehead with agitation.

'Taken him!' said I. 'Why, was he hiding?'

'Hiding! to be sure he was hiding, and masquerading and disguising
himself! But, 'faith, those Clare fellows, there's no coming up to them;
they have such practice in their own county, they wo