aid Miss Betty. 'They say that he is stopping
at Kilgobbin Castle!'

'I suppose to conduct young Kearney's election,' said Miller, laughing.

'And why should they hunt him down?' asked Gorman. 'What has he done?'

'He's a Fenian--a head-centre--a man who wants to revolutionise Ireland,'
replied Miller.

'And destroy the Church,' chimed in the priest.

'Humph!' muttered Gorman, who seemed to imply, Is this all you can lay to
his charge? 'Has he escaped? asked he suddenly.

'Up to this he has,' said Miller. 'I was talking to the constabulary chief
this afternoon, and he told me that the fellow is sure to be apprehended.
He has taken to the open bog, and there are eighteen in full cry after him.
There is a search-warrant, too, arrived, and they mean to look him up at
Kilgobbin Castle.'

'To search Kilgobbin Castle, do you mean?' asked Gorman.

'Just so. It will be, as I perceive you think it, a great offence to Mr.
Kearney, and it is not impossible that his temper may provoke him to resist
it.'

'The mere rumour may materially assist his son's election,' said the priest
slyly.

'Only with the party who have no votes, Father Luke,' rejoined Miller.
'That precarious popularity of the mob is about the most dangerous enemy a
man can have in Ireland.'

'You are right, sir,' said the priest blandly. 'The real favour of this
people is only bestowed on him who has gained the confidence of the
clergy.'

'If that be true,' cried Gorman, 'upon my oath I think you are worse off
here than in Austria. There, at least, we are beginning to think without
the permission of the Church.'

'Let us have none of your atheism here, young man,' broke in his aunt
angrily. 'Such sentiments have never been heard in this room before.'

'If I apprehend Lieutenant Gorman aright,' interposed Father Luke, 'he only
refers to the late movement of the Austrian Empire with reference to the
Concordat, on which, amongst religious men, there are two opinions.'

'No, no, you mistake me altogether,' rejoined Gorman. 'What I mean was,
that a man can read, and talk, and think in Austria without the leave of
the priest; that he can marry, and if he like, he can die without his
assistance.'

'Gorman, you are a beast,' said the old lady, 'and if you lived here, you
would be a Fenian.'

'You're wrong too, aunt,' replied he. 'I'd crush those fellows to-morrow if
I was in power here.'

'Mayhap the game is not so easy as you deem it,' interposed Mill