ore than that. It is not for me to remind you,
but it is more than that."

She stood there blushing before him, over her cheeks and up to her
forehead; but yet did not turn away her face.

"How am I to tell you why it is more than that? You cannot tell me,"
she replied.

"But, Edith--"

"You cannot tell me. There are moments for some of us the feelings of
which can never be whispered. You shall be my hero and my brother if
you will; or my hero and my friend; or, if not that, my hero and my
enemy."

"Never!"

"No, my enemy you cannot be; for him who is about to revenge my
brother's death no name less sweet than dearest friend will suffice.
My hero and my dearest friend!"

Then she took him by the hand, and turned away from the walk, and,
escaping by a narrow path, was seen no more till she met him at
dinner with her father and her brother and her sister.

"By God! she shall be mine!" said Clayton. "She must be mine!"

And then he went within, and, finding Hunter, read the details of
the evidence for the trial of Mr. Lax in Dublin, as prepared by the
proper officers in Galway city.

CHAPTER XLI.

THE STATE OF IRELAND.

It will be well that they who are interested only in the sensational
incidents of our story to skip this chapter and go on to other parts
of our tale which may be more in accordance with their taste. It
is necessary that this one chapter shall be written in which the
accidents that occurred in the lives of our three heroines shall be
made subordinate to the political circumstances of the day. This
chapter should have been introductory and initiative; but the facts
as stated will suit better to the telling of my story if they be told
here. There can be no doubt that Ireland has been and still is in
a most precarious condition, that life has been altogether unsafe
there, and that property has been jeopardised in a degree unknown
for many years in the British Islands. It is, I think, the general
opinion that these evils have been occasioned by the influx into
Ireland of a feeling which I will not call American, but which has
been engendered in America by Irish jealousy, and warmed into hatred
by distance from English rule. As far as politics are regarded,
Ireland has been the vassal of England as Poland has been of those
masters under which she has been made to serve. She was subjected to
much ill-usage, and though she has readily accepted the language, the
civilisation, and the custo