a pardon from government, and
rescue him from the wild and lawless life he is leading."

Mrs. Lindsay merely said,--"If my son Woodward could render you
any assistance, I am sure he would feel great pleasure in doing so,
notwithstanding that it was this same Shawn-na-Middogue who, perhaps,
has murdered his brother, for he is by no means out of danger."

"What--he? Shawn-na-Middogue! Have you any proof of that?"

"Not positive or legal proof, my lord, but! at least a strong moral
certainty. However, it is a subject on which I do not wish to speak."

"By the way, I am very stupid; but no wonder. When a man approaches
seventy he can't be expected to remember everything. You will excuse me
for not inquiring after your son's health; how is he?"

"Indeed, my lord, we know not what to say; neither does the doctor who
attends him--the same, by the way, who attended Miss Goodwin. At present
he can say neither yes or no to his recovery."

"No, nor will not as long as he can; I know those gentry well. Curse
the thing on earth frightens one of them so much as any appearance of
convalescence in a patient. I had during my life about half a dozen fits
of illness, and whenever they found that I was on the recovery, they
always contrived to throw me back with their damned nostrums, for a
month or six weeks together, that they might squeeze all they could out
of me. O, devilish rogues! devilish rogues!"

Mrs. Lindsay now asked to see his niece, and the peer said he would send
her down, after which he shook hands with her, and once more cautioned
her against alluding to the arrangement into which they had entered
touching the matrimonial affairs already discussed. It is not our
intention to give the conversation between the two ladies, which was,
indeed, not one of long duration. Mrs. Lindsay simply stated that she
had been deputed by her son, Woodward, to have the honor of making a
proposal in his name to her uncle, in which proposal she, Miss Riddle,
was deeply concerned, but that her son himself would soon have the
greater honor of pleading his own cause with the fair object of his most
enthusiastic affection. To this Miss Riddle said neither yes nor no;
and, after a further chat upon indifferent topics, the matron took her
departure, much satisfied, however, with the apparent suavity of the
worthy peer's fair niece.

It matters not how hard and iniquitous the hearts of mothers may be,
it is a difficult thing to extinguish in