ther the course he was about to pursue, he had done
all that was possible in the case to prevent crime.

Whether he thought that either of those who had been named as the
object of hatred to these unruly men might ultimately fall a victim
to the feeling to which their actions had given rise in the country,
is another question. If he did, he could not prevent it--nor was it
his especial business to attend to it; but he felt tolerably sure
that to whatever bad feelings hardships and cruelty might have
given rise in Thady's breast, he would not now gratify them by such
atrocious means as those which McGovery's statement had induced him
to apprehend.

Under this impression he bade him good night, with another kind shake
of the hand; telling him that though, at present, there might be much
to sadden and distress him, if he confronted his difficulties with
manly courage and honest purposes, he would be sure sooner or later
to overcome them.

Thady returned home more comfortable than he had been in the morning,
but he could not bring himself to that state of mind in which Father
John had hoped to dismiss him. He felt, that though he was determined
not to go to Mrs. Mulready's, the affair could not rest there. He
felt himself to be, in some horrible manner, in the power of Brady
and Joe Reynolds--as though he could not escape from them. A general
despondency respecting all his prospects weighed him down, and when
he reached Ballycloran, he was nearly as unhappy as he had been in
leaving it.

CHAPTER XVII.

SPORT IN THE WEST.

Carrick-on-Shannon, the assize town of County Leitrim, though an
assize town, is a very poor place. It consists of one long narrow,
irregular street, lying along the Shannon, in which slated houses
and thatched cabins delightfully relieve each other, and prevent the
eye from being annoyed with sameness or monotony. The houses are
mostly all shops, and even the cabins profess to afford "lodging and
entherthainment;" so that it is to be presumed that the poverty of
the place is attributable to circumstances and misfortune, and not
to the idleness of the inhabitants. The prevailing feeling, however,
arising in any human mind, on entering the place, would be that of
compassion for the judges, barristers, attorneys, crown clerks, grand
jury, long panel, witnesses, &c., who have to be crammed into this
little place, and lodged and fed for five or six days, twice a year
during the assizes.

The