l,
my boy, I can go no further on that subject--ha! ha! ha!"

"There is no dispute about it," continued Donnel, gravely; "but still
I think, that if it was not for the mention made of the dress, an'
grandeur, and state that she was to come to, she'd hardly turn round
as she did. Dalton, you know, is the handsomest young fellow, barring
yourself, in the parish; an' troth on your account an' hers, I wish he
was out of it. He'll be crossin' you--you may take my word for it--an' a
dangerous enemy he'll prove--that I know."

"Why? what do you mean?" Here the prophet, who was artfully trying
to fill the heart of his companion with a spirit of jealousy against
Dalton, paused for a moment, as if in deep reflection, after which he
sighed heavily. "Mane!" he at length replied; "I am unhappy in my mind,
an' I know I ought to do it, an' yet I'm loth now after sich a length of
time. Mane, did you say, Masther Richard?"

"Yes, I said so, and I say so; what do you mean by telling me that young
Dalton will be a dangerous enemy to me?"

"An' so he will; an' so he would to any one that he or his bore ill-will
against. You know there's blood upon their hands."

"No, I don't know any such thing; I believe he was charged with the
murder of Mave Sullivan's uncle, but as the body could not be found,
there were no grounds for a prosecution. I don't, therefore, know that
there's blood upon his hand."

"Well, then, if you don't--may God direct! me!" he added, "an' guide me
to the best--if you don't, Masther Richard--Heaven direct me agin!--will
I say it?--could you get that family quietly out of the counthry,
Masther Richard? Bekaise if you could, it would be betther, maybe, for
all parties."

"You seem to know something about these Daltons, Mr. M'Gowan?" asked
Dick, "and to speak mysteriously of them?"

"Well, then, I do," he replied; "but! what I have to say, I ought to say
it to your father, who is a magistrate."

The other stared at him with surprise, but said nothing for a minute or
two.

"What is this mystery?" he added at length; "I cannot understand you;
but it is clear that you mean something extraordinary."

"God pardon me, Masther Richard, but you are right enough. No; I can't
keep it any longer. Listen to me, sir, for I am goin' to make a strange
and a fearful discovery; I know who it was that murdhered Sullivan;
I'm in possession of it for near the last two-an'-twenty years; I have
travelled every where; gone to Englan