. That
is all, yer ladyship."

"Oh, little girl!" cried Fanny, joyfully, "you need not kiss the old
stone for that, for my papa is--" Here the impulsive little girl
caught a warning look from her father, and paused suddenly, while his
lordship took up the conversation with the peasant child.

"What is your name?"

"Norah McCarthy, yer honor."

"Ah, quite a pretty name. Well, Norah, how came this brother of yours
to enlist?"

"Och! it all came from going to Darby O'Hallagher's wake."

"What is a wake?" asked Fanny.

"A wake, my darling young lady," said Rooney, very politely, "sure it's
an entertainment that a man gives after he is dead, when his
disconsolate friends all assemble at his house, to discuss his virtues
and drink his poteen. There is one who is called a 'keener,' usually
an elderly woman, with a touch of madness, or poetry, and a wild
rolling eye, who chants a 'keen,' or lamentation; in short, it's a sort
of melancholy frolic, where we only drink to drown our sorrow--a good
old Irish custom. Now, go on, Norah, my jewel."

"Well, may be Phin was a great mourner for Darby, for he was overtaken
in drink that night, and brought shame upon himself, that had always
been a dacent and a sober lad; and the next day Mary Nelligan wouldn't
spake to him, and even our mother turned her face away from him; and
so, with the hot shame at his heart, he went straight to the sergeant
and 'listed. He was sorry soon, and Mary was sorry, and mother is just
kilt with grief, for she has nobody to look to now."

"And to obtain your brother's discharge, you have come on this
pilgrimage to Blarney Castle, my poor child?" said Lord Clare, laying
his hand gently on the little girl's head.

"Yes, and will yer honor kindly point out the stone to me? for I must
go back to Cork this day."

Lord Clare took her by the hand, and leading her to the parapet,
pointed down to the stone, imbedded in the outside wall. "Ah," cried
Norah, in a tone of dismay and grief, "how can I reach it there? and
where am I to get the heart to spake up to the lord-lieutenant for poor
Phin?"

Just then, an idea of testing the courage and devotion of the child
occurred to Lord Clare. Unwinding from his waist a long silk, military
sash, he said, "If you will let me tie this around you, under your
arms, and let you down by it, you can kiss the Blarney Stone, and I
will draw you up again. Are you brave enough to venture?"

As Norah looked down