nto the hack chaise, and were driven into the
yard of the hotel where the inquest was to be held. This was the same
house in which McKeon and his party had dined on the evening before
the races, and there the cold stiff body of the man was lying on the
same table round which he and so many others were carousing but a few
hours since. There he lay, at least all that mortal remained of him,
who was then so joyous, so reckless, and so triumphant, in the very
room in which he had boasted, in his wilful wickedness, of the sad
tragedy he was intending to inflict on those who had been so friendly
to him at Ballycloran, and of which he was now himself the first
victim.

The table on which he was laid out had been hastily removed for
the dance, and it had now been as hastily replaced for its present
purpose. The laurel wreaths with which the walls had been decorated
were yet remaining, and when the Coroner entered the room his foot
slipped on a faded flower, which some wearied beauty had dropped when
leaving it on the previous morning. Little more than four and twenty
hours had elapsed since the fiddles were playing there, and some of
those who were now summoned upon their oaths to decide in what manner
Ussher had met his death, had on that morning been nearly the last
to leave the room in which they were now to exercise so different a
vocation.

Biddy and Katty were first examined, and it was from the evidence
of the former that Father John first heard that Feemy had agreed to
elope with Ussher; and it appeared from what the girl said that her
mistress was to have left the house some time previous to the time
at which the other girl proved that she had been brought back by her
brother. This added greatly to his sorrow; but at the same time, he
now instantly perceived under what provocation Thady had struck the
fatal blow. Brady proved that his master had confessed to him that
it was he who had killed Ussher, and that he had said that when he
did so his sister was in Ussher's arms. The stick was then brought
forward, which was proved to be the one usually carried by Thady; and
the blood upon the stick, and the nature of the wound upon the dead
man's head, left no doubt that this was the weapon with which he had
been killed.

The father was then brought in, and we have already seen the manner
in which he conducted himself. It was now necessary to examine Feemy,
and at last she came in, almost carried in Mrs. McKeon's arms, wi