shillings to the back of it for Lanty
Cassan's mare that I hired to bring you home when you staked the horse;
you never paid it since." And then there was another laugh; but the end
of all was, he writ a bit of a note where he was on horseback, with a
pencil, and here it is.'

So saying, he produced a small crumpled piece of paper, in which I could
with some difficulty trace the following lines:--

'Dear Jack,--If the fool who bears this ever arrives with it, come back
at once. Your friends in England have been worrying the duke to command
your return to duty; and there are stories afloat about your western
doings that your presence here can alone contradict.--Yours, J. Horton.'

It needed not a second for me to make up my mind as to my future course,
and I said--

'How can I reach Limerick the shortest way?' 'I know a short cut,' said
Joe, 'and if we could get a pony I'd bring you over the mountain before
to-morrow evening.'

'And you,' said I--'how are you to go?' 'On my feet, to be sure; how
else would I go?' Despatching Joe, in company with Patsey, in search of
a pony to carry me over the mountain, I walked into the little parlour
which I was now about to take my leave of for ever.

It was only then when I threw myself upon a seat, alone and in solitude,
that I felt the full force of all my sorrow--the blight that had fallen
on my dearest hopes, and the blank, bleak prospect of life before me.
Sir Simon Bellew's letter I read over once more; but now the mystery it
contained had lost all interest for me, and I had only thoughts for my
own affliction. Suddenly, a deep burning spot glowed on my cheek as I
remembered my interview with Ulick Burke, and I sprang to my legs, and
for a second or two felt undecided whether I would not give him the
opportunity he so longed for. It was but a second, and my better reason
came back, and I blushed even deeper with shame than I had done with
passion.

Calming myself with a mighty effort, I endeavoured to pen a few lines to
my worthy and kind friend, Father Loftus. I dared not tell him the real
cause of my departure, though indeed I guessed from his absence that he
had accompanied the Bellews, and but simply spoke of my return to duty
as imperative, and my regret that after such proofs of his friendship I
could not shake his hand at parting. The continued flurry of my feelings
doubtless made this a very confused and inexplicit document; but I could
do no better. In fact, th