one owned
several cows; the other had money in a savings' bank; and so on. In
fact, he had to hear that every estate had its plague-spot of bad
characters, where crime and infamy found a refuge; and that it might be
poor morality, but good policy, to admit of the custom.

Confused by contradictory statements, wearied by explanations, to
understand which nothing short of a life long should have passed in
studying the people,--imposed upon by some, unjust towards
others,--he listened to interminable discussions without one gleam of
enlightenment--and, what is far worse, without one ray of hope; the only
piece of satisfaction he derived from the visit being, that Hoare had
consented to advance a sum of money upon mortgage of the property,
which, in his secret soul, Cashel resolved should be a purchase, and
not a mere loan. The object he had in view was to buy off Linton's claim
upon the cottage; and having settled all his most pressing debts, to
retire for some years to the Continent, till a sufficient sum should
have accumulated to permit him to recommence his life as a country
gentleman, in a manner and with views very different from what he had
hitherto done. He hoped, by travel, to improve his mind and extend his
knowledge; he trusted that, by observing the condition of the peasant
in different countries of Europe, he might bring back with him certain
suggestions applicable to his own tenantry; and, at all events, he
determined that the resources of his large fortune should no longer
be squandered in meaningless debauch, so long as real destitution and
grinding misery lay at his very door. He made many a good and noble
resolve, and, like most men in such cases, with youth on their side, he
was impatient to begin to act upon them.

It was, then, with a feeling like that of a liberated prisoner, he heard
from Mr. Kennyfeck that, although Mr. Hoare and himself had yet many
preliminaries to arrange, which might detain them several hours longer,
he might now return homeward to Tubbermore, where his company were
doubtless in anxious expectation of his coming. There were two roads
which led to Drumcoologan,--one was a species of carriage-road, by which
they had come that morning; the other was a mere bridle-path over the
mountain, and though shorter in mileage, required fully as much time, if
not more, to travel. Refusing the assistance of a guide, and preferring
to be alone, he set out by himself, and on foot, to pursue the