d his trial; his resolute
refusal to employ legal assistance; his seeming indifference to the
alleged clews to the discovery of the murder,--were commented on and
repeated till they formed the table-talk of the land.

The only person with whom he desired to communicate was Dr. Tiernay; but
the doctor had left Ireland in company with old Mr. Corrigan and Miss
Leicester, and none knew whither they had directed their steps.

Of all his former friends and acquaintances, Cashel did not appear to
remember one; nor, certainly, did they obtrude themselves in any way
upon his recollection. The public, it is true, occupied themselves
abundantly with his interests. Letters, some with signatures, the
greater number without, were addressed to him, containing advices and
counsels the strangest and most opposite, and requests, which to one in
his situation were the most inappropriate. Exhortations to confess
his crime came from some, evidently more anxious for the solution of a
mystery than the repentance of a criminal. Some suggested legal
quibbles to be used at the trial; others hinted at certain most skilful
advocates, whose services had been crowned with success in the case of
most atrocious wretches. A few asked for autographs; and one, in a neat
crowquill hand, with paper smelling strongly of musk, requested a lock
of his hair!

If by any accident Cashel opened one of these epistles, he was certain
to feel amused. It was to him, at least, a new view of life, and of
that civilization against which he now felt himself a rebel. Generally,
however, he knew nothing of them: a careless indifference, a reckless
disregard of the future, had taken complete possession of him; and the
only impatience he ever manifested was at the slow march of the time
which should elapse before the day of trial.

The day at length arrived; and even within the dreary walls of the
prison were heard the murmured accents of excitement as the great hour
drew nigh.

Mr. Goring at an early hour had visited the prisoner, to entreat him,
for the last time, to abandon his mad refusal of legal aid; explaining
forcibly that there were constantly cases occurring where innocence
could only be asserted by disentangling the ingenious tissue with which
legal astuteness can invest a circumstance. Cashel rejected this counsel
calmly but peremptorily; and when pressed home by other arguments, in a
moment of passing impatience confessed that he was "weary of life, and
w