could read nothing but what appeared to him to be an impudent chuckle of
satisfaction; and this, indeed, was no more than what Crackenfudge felt,
who had altogether forgotten the nature of the communication he was
about to make, dreadful and disastrous as it was, and thought only of
the claim upon Sir Thomas's influence which he was about to establish
with reference to the magistracy. It was the reflection, then, of this
train of little ambition which Sir Thomas read in his countenance, and
mistook for some communication that might relieve him, and set his mind
probably at ease. The scowl we allude to accordingly disappeared, and
Sir Thomas, after the glance we have recorded, said, checking himself
into a milder and more encouraging tone:

"Go on, Mr. Crackenfudge, let us hear it at once."

"Well, then, Sir Thomas, a' told you a'd keep my eye on that chap."

"On whom? name him, sir."

"A' can't, Sir Thomas; the fellow in the inn."

"Oh! what about him?"

"Why he has taken her off."

"Taken whom off?" shouted the baronet, in a voice of thunder. "You
contemptible scoundrel, whom has he taken off?"

"Your daughter, Sir Thomas--Miss Gourlay. They went together in the
'Fly' on Tuesday night last to Dublin; a' followed in the 'Flash of
Lightning,' and seen them in conversation. Dandy Dulcimer, who is
your friend--For God's sake, Sir Thomas, be quiet. You'll shake
me--a-a-ach--Sir--Thom-a-as--w-wi-will you not take my--my
--li-life----"

"You lie like a villain, you most contemptible reptile," shouted the
other. "My daughter, sirrah, never eloped with an adventurer. She never
eloped at all, sir. She durst not elope. She knows what my vengeance
would be, sirrah. She knows, you lying whelp of perdition, that I would
pursue herself and her paramour to the uttermost ends of the earth; that
I would shoot them both dead--that I would trample upon and spurn
their worthless carcasses, and make an example of them to all time, and
through all eternity. And you--you prying, intermeddling scoundrel--how
durst you--you petty, beggarly tyrant--hated and despised by poor and
rich--was it to mock me--"

"Sir Thom-a-as,
a'm--a'm--I--I--aach--ur-ur-ur-mur-murd-murd-er-er-err-errr."

"Was it to jeer and sneer at me--to insult me--you miserable knave--to
drive me mad--into raging frenzy--that you came, with a smirk of
satisfaction on your face, to communicate the disgrace and dishonor of
my family--the ruin of my hopes--the frustra