e Glencores to see "the hearth cold, and the roof-tree blackened;"
and Billy now muttered the lines of an old chronicle where such a
destiny was bewailed:--

"Where are the voices, whispering low,
Of lovers side by side?
And where the haughty dames who swept
Thy terraces in pride?
Where is the wild and joyous mirth
That drown'd th' Atlantic's roar,
Making the rafters ring again
With welcome to Glencore?
"And where's the step of belted knight,
That strode the massive floor?
And where's the laugh of lady bright,
We used to hear of yore?
The hound that bayed, the prancing steed,
Impatient at the door,
May bide the time for many a year--
They 'll never see Glencore!

"And he came back, after all,--Lord Hugo,--and was taken prisoner at
Ormond by Cromwell, and sentenced to death!" said Billy. "Sentenced to
death!--but never shot! Nobody knew why, or ever will know. After years
and years of exile he came back, and was at the Court of Charles, but
never liked,--they say dangerous! That 's exactly the word,--dangerous!"

He started up from his revery, and, taking his stick, issued from the
room. The mist was beginning to rise, and he took his way towards the
shore of the lough, through the wet and tangled grass. It was a long and
toilsome walk for one so old as he was, but he went manfully onward, and
at last reached the little jetty where the boats from the mainland were
wont to put in. All was cheerless and leaden-hued over the wide waste
of water; a surging swell swept heavily along, but not a sail was to be
seen. Far across the lough he could descry the harbor of Leenane, where
the boats were at anchor, and see the lazy smoke as it slowly rose
in the thick atmosphere. Seated on a stone at the water's edge, Billy
watched long and patiently, his eyes turning at times towards the bleak
mountain-road, which for miles was visible. At last, with a weary sigh,
he arose, and muttering, "He won't come to-day," turned back again to
his lonely home.

To this hour he lives, and waits the "coming of Glencore."

THE END.

End of Project Gutenberg's The Fortunes Of Glencore, by Charles James Lever

*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE FORTUNES OF GLENCORE ***

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