e duty which each juror owed to his country.

When the judge had finished, the jury retired to consider their
verdict; and the other business of the assizes was proceeded with, as
if nothing peculiar had happened to check the regular routine duties
of the court.

CHAPTER XXXII.

THE VERDICT.

It was not very late in the day when the jury retired, and it was
generally thought that they would come to a verdict in time to escape
being immured for a second night; but they did not.

Immediately after hearing the judge's charge, Father John, McKeon,
and Webb agreed among them that it was absolutely necessary that old
Macdermot should be acquainted with his daughter's death; but who was
to take upon himself the sad errand! Father John had for the last
few days been so harassed, so worn down by anxiety, and was now so
depressed by, as he conceived the unfavourable tone of the judge's
charge, that he looked like the ghost of himself; and yet the duty
of seeing old Macdermot could fall on no one but himself. Neither
Webb nor McKeon knew the ways of the old man, and it was more than
probable that neither of them would be admitted into the house.
Father John therefore put himself on a car and hurried off to
Ballycloran, making his friend promise that he would wait in Carrick
for him till his return.

Father John soon found himself in the presence of Larry; but he could
with difficulty find words to tell him of his bereavement. The old
man was seated on his bed--he always slept now in the parlour--he had
his legs thrust into a tattered pair of breeches, and had worn-out
slippers on his feet; and an old and ragged coat, into which he had
been unable or unwilling to thrust his arms, hung over his shoulder;
but he had no stockings on--no cravat round his throat; his long-worn
shirt was unbuttoned over his breast; and his face was not only
unshorn, but was also, as well as his hands and feet, unwashed and
filthy. When Father John entered the room he was seated on his bed,
which had not been made since he rose from it. He had a pipe in his
mouth, and a glass of grog in his hand. The smell of the room was
most offensive, and it seemed from the dreadfully close atmosphere,
that no window had been opened in it for weeks past. Mary McGovery
followed the priest's steps into the room, running through numerous
apologies as to the state in which the old man was found, and
assuring him that Macdermot was so stupid and so obstinate