within hearing of their conversation, and
ascertained with regret the mistake he had committed. Shawn, at night,
seldom went unattended by several of his gang, and on this occasion
he was accompanied by about a dozen of them. His murderous mistake
occasioned him to feel deep sorrow, for he was perfectly well acquainted
with the amiable and generous character which Charles bore amongst
his father's tenantry. His life had been, not only inoffensive, but
benevolent; whilst that of his brother--short as was the time since
his return to Rathfillan House--was marked by a very licentious
profligacy,--a profligacy which he attempted in vain to conceal. Whilst
Grace Davoren and Casey were attempting to staunch the blood which
issued from the wound, four men, despatched by Shawn for the purpose,
came, as if alarmed by Grace's shrieks, to the scene of the tragedy,
and, after having inquired as to the cause of its occurrence, precisely
as if they had been ignorant of it, they proposed that the only thing
to be done, so as to give him a chance for life, was to carry him
home without a moment's delay. He was accordingly raised upon their
shoulders, and, with more sympathy than could be expected from such men,
was borne to his father's house in apparently a dying state.

It is unnecessary to attempt any description of the alarm which his
appearance there created. His father and Maria were distracted; even his
mother manifested tokens of unusual sorrow, for after all she was his
mother; and nothing, indeed, could surpass the sorrow of the whole
family. The servants were all in tears, and nothing but sobs and
wailings could be heard throughout the house. Harry Woodward himself
put his handkerchief to his eyes, and seemed to feel a deep but
subdued sorrow. Medical aid was immediately sent for, but such was his
precarious condition that no opinion could be formed as to his ultimate
recover+y.

The next morning the town of Rathfillan, and indeed the parish at large,
were in a state of agitation, and tumult, and sorrow, as soon as the
melancholy catastrophe had become known. The neighbors and tenants
flocked in multitudes to learn the particulars, and ascertain his state.
About eleven o'clock Harry mounted his horse, and, in defiance of the
interdict that had been laid upon him, proceeded at a rapid pace to Mr.
Goodwin's house, in order to disclose--with what object the reader may
conjecture--the melancholy event which had happened. He fou