o care how.

Such were my thoughts as I journeyed along the path that conducted
towards the highroad; while my little guide--barelegged and barefooted,
trotted on merrily before me--who, with none of this world's goods, had
no room in his heart for sorrow or repining.

We at last reached the road, which, dusty and deserted, skirted the side
of a bleak mountain for miles--not a house to be seen; not a traveller,
nor scarce a wheel-track, to mark the course of any one having passed
there. I had not followed it for more than half an hour when I heard
the tramp of horses and the roll which announced the approach of an
equipage. A vast cloud of dust, through which a pair of leaders were
alone visible, appeared at a distance. I seated myself at the roadside
to await its coming, my little gossoon beside me, evidently not sorry
to have reached a resting-place; and once more my thoughts returned to
their well-worn channel, and my head sank on my bosom. I forgot where I
was, when suddenly the prancing of a pair of horses close to me aroused
me from my stupor, and a postillion called out to me in no very subdued
accent--

'Will ye hook on that trace there, avick, av ye 're not asleep?'

Whether it was my look of astonishment at the tone and the nature of the
request, or delay in acceding to it, I know not; but a hearty curse
from the fellow on the wheelers perfectly awakened me, and I replied by
something not exactly calculated to appease the heat of the discussion.

'Begorra,' said he of the leaders, 'it's always the way with your shabby
genteels!' and he swung himself down from the saddle to perform the
required service himself.

During this operation I took the opportunity of looking at the
carriage, which was a large and handsome barouche, surrounded by all the
appurtenances of travel--cap-cases, imperials, etc.; a fat-looking, lazy
footman was nodding sleepily on the box, and a well-tanned lady's-maid
was reading a novel in the rumble. Within I saw the figure of a
lady, whose magnificent style of dress but little accorded with the
unfrequented road she was traversing and the wild inhabitants so thinly
scattered through it. As I looked, she turned round suddenly; and,
before I could recognise her, she called out my name. The voice in an
instant reassured me: it was Mrs. Paul Rooney herself!

'Stop!' cried she, with a wave of her jewelled hand. 'Michael, get down.
Only think of meeting you here, Captain!'

I stammered