"Terence, my nephew! Is it you, indeed?" and embracing me, his feelings
overcame him, and he could say no more for some minutes. "I came on the
chance of meeting you, though I knew not when you would arrive," he said
at length. "I have been waiting day after day, every hour in
expectation of seeing you; but faith, when my eyes first fell on your
figure I forgot the change that four years would have produced in you,
and took you for a stranger. And you have brought back Larry safe from
the wars? Glad to see you, boy. I thought you would be taking care of
the young master."

"Faith, your honour, I should have been mighty grieved at myself if I
hadn't done the best I could; and it's a pleasure to hand him back to
you, major, without a wound or a scratch, though the round shot and
bullets have been flying about pretty quickly round him; and we've
escaped from fire and hurricane, and shipwrecks and earthquakes, and a
mighty lot of other things besides."

"And you, uncle, don't look a day older than when I went away," I said.

"You must not trust too much to appearances, Terence," he answered,
shaking his head. "The enemy has been sapping the foundations, though
he has not as yet taken the fortress. I have a good many things to try
me. Matters at home are not in a satisfactory state."

"It was about them all I was going to ask, uncle," I said. "How are my
father and mother, the girls and the boys?"

"Your mother is not so strong as she was, though she bears up bravely;
but your poor father has greatly changed. Though he has given up his
claret, he still sticks to his potations of rum shrub and whisky punch,
which are rapidly bringing him to his grave, though he won't believe it
Kathleen and Nora are married; Kathleen to Eustace Fitzgerald, and Nora
to Tim Daley. I would rather they had found steadier husbands, but
they'll bring the boys into order, I hope, in time. Your brother
Maurice got his commission soon after you left home, and, having seen
some service in America, has lately returned home on leave. I was in
hopes that he would have fallen in with you. Denis stops at home to
help me mind the house and keep things in order. The rest have grown
into strapping lads, and it's time to be sending them out into the world
to seek their fortunes. The Fitzgeralds and the Daleys are staying at
the Castle, and they'll be mightily pleased to see you. We will start
to-morrow morning at daylight. I brought h