mable price--life and liberty at once to the imprisoned spirit of
his proud heart. To her, the higher and nobler sense of gratification,
which flows from having acted well, sent a thrill of ecstasy through her
bosom, such as only gentle and generous youth can ever feel. And thus,
while the O'Donoghue mused over, the enjoyments and pleasures his new
accession of wealth might place at his disposal, she revelled in the
delight of having ministered to the happiness of one she had always
regarded as a father, and even felt grateful to him for the emotions of
her own heart.

The O'Donoghue's first thought on awaking was to employ this large
sum to liquidate some of his most pressing debts, and to make such
arrangements as might enable them to live economically but comfortably,
paying off those creditors whose exorbitant interest was consuming all
the remnant of his income, and entering into contracts with others for
the gradual repayment of the loans. The more he reflected on these good
intentions, the less pleasure did they yield him. He had, for years
past, taught himself to regard a creditor as an implacable enemy. The
very idea of succumbing smacked of defeat. He had defied the law so
long, it looked like cowardice to surrender now; besides the very
complication of his affairs offered an excuse, which he was not slow
to catch at. How could he pay Cassidy in full, and only give Hickson a
part? Would not the mere rumour of his paying off his debts bring down
a host of demands that had almost shimbered themselves out of existence.
He had often heard that his grandfather "muddled away his fortune paying
small debts." It could not be supposed he would reject the traditions of
his own house--nor did he.

He judged wisely, if not well, that new habits of expenditure would
do more to silence the complaints of duns than the most accurately
calculated system of liquidation. That entertainments and equipages, a
stable full of horses, and a house crammed with guests, are a receipt
in full for solvency, which, however some may distrust, none are bold
enough to question openly.

If the plan had fewer excellencies, it, at least, suited him better; and
he certainly opened the campaign with vigour. No sooner had he decided
on his line of acting, than he despatched Kerry O'Leary to Cork with
a letter for Swaby, his attorney, requiring his immediate presence at
Carrig-na-curra, and adding, "that if he brought a couple of hundred
pounds o