l, had been caught at last. And in the midst of all this,
Mr. O'Mahony came in for his share of popularity. There was something
so peculiar in the connection which bound a violent Landleaguing
Member of Parliament with the prima donna of the day. They were
father and daughter, but they looked more like husband and wife, and
it always seemed that Rachel had her own way. Mr. O'Mahony had quite
achieved a character for himself before the time had come in which
he was enabled to open his mouth in the House of Commons. And some
people went so far as to declare that he was about to be the new
leader of the party.

It certainly was true that about this time Lord Castlewell did make
an offer to Rachel O'Mahony.

"That I should have come to this!" she said to the lord when the lord
had expressed his wishes.

"You deserve it all," said the gallant lord.

"I think I do. But that you should have seen it,--that you should
have come to understand that if I would be your wife I would sing
every note out of my body,--to do you good if it were possible. How
have you been enlightened so far as to see that this is the way in
which you may best make yourself happy?"

Lord Castlewell did not quite like this; but he knew that his
wished-for bride was an unintelligible little person, to whom much
must be yielded as to her own way. He had not given way to this idea
before he had seen how well she had taken her place among the people
with whom he lived. He was forty years old, and it was time that he
should marry. His father was a very proud personage, to whom he never
spoke much. He, however, would be of opinion that any bride whom his
son might choose would be, by the very fact, raised to the top of the
peerage. His mother was a religious woman, to whom any matrimony for
her son would be an achievement. Now, of the proposed bride he had
learned all manner of good things. She had come out of Mr. Moss's
furnace absolutely unscorched; so much unscorched as to scorn the
idea of having been touched by the flames. She was thankful to Lord
Castlewell for what he had done, and expressed her thanks in a manner
that was not grateful to him. She was not in the least put about or
confused, or indeed surprised, because the heir of a marquis had made
an offer to her--a singing girl; but she let him understand that she
quite thought that she had done a good thing. "It would be so much
better for him than going on as he has gone," she said to her fathe