last recovering himself, he said--

"Pray, think no more of my words, I spoke them rashly. I know of no
means of befriending this young man. He rejected my counsels when they
might have served him. I find how impossible it is to win confidence
from those whose prejudices have been fostered in adverse circumstances.
Now, I am too late--my humble task is merely to offer you some advice,
which the day of calamity may recall to your memory. The Government
intends to make a severe example of his case. I heard so much, by
accident, from the Under Secretary. They will proceed, in the event
of his conviction--of which there cannot be a doubt--to measures of
confiscation regarding his property--timely intervention might be of
service here."

This additional threat of misfortune did not seem to present so many
terrors to Kate's mind as he calculated on its producing. She stood
silent and motionless, and appeared scarcely to notice his words.

"I feel how barbarous such cruelty is to an old and inoffensive parent,"
said Hemsworth, "whose heart is rent by the recent loss of a son."

"He must not die," said Kate, with a hollow voice, and her pale cheek
trembled with a convulsive motion. "Mark must be saved. What was the
pledge you hinted at?"

Hemsworth's eyes flashed, and his lip curled with an expression of
triumph. The moment, long sought, long hoped for, had at length arrived,
which should gratify both his vengeance and his ambition. The emotion
passed rapidly away, and his features assumed a look of subdued sorrow.

"I fear, Miss O'Donoghue," said he, "that my hope was but like the straw
which the drowning hand will grasp at; but, tortured as my mind has
been by expedients, which more mature thought has ever discovered to be
impracticable, I suffered myself to believe that possible, which my own
heart forbids me to hope for."

He waited a few seconds to give her an opportunity of speaking, but she
was silent, and he went on--

"The guarantee I alluded to would be the pledge of one, whose loyalty to
the Government stands above suspicion; one, whose services have met no
requital, but whose reward only awaits the moment of demanding it; such
a one as this might make his own character and fortune the recognizance
for this young man's conduct, and truck the payment of his own services
for a free pardon."

"And who is there thus highly placed, and willing to befriend us."

Hemsworth laid his hand upon his heart, and bowing