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efusal of such a request, I will not quote; but the kiss had been taken before the denial was completed, and then they walked on in silence together,--and in peace, towards the house. On the next morning six or seven men were going away, and there was an early breakfast. There were none of the ladies there, but Mr. Kennedy, the host, was among his friends. A large drag with four horses was there to take the travellers and their luggage to the station, and there was naturally a good deal of noise at the front door as the preparations for the departure were made. In the middle of them Mr. Kennedy took our hero aside. "Laura has told me," said Mr. Kennedy, "that she has acquainted you with my good fortune." "And I congratulate you most heartily," said Phineas, grasping the other's hand. "You are indeed a lucky fellow." "I feel myself to be so," said Mr. Kennedy. "Such a wife was all that was wanting to me, and such a wife is very hard to find. Will you remember, Finn, that Loughlinter will never be so full but what there will be a room for you, or so empty but what you will be made welcome? I say this on Lady Laura's part and on my own." Phineas, as he was being carried away to the railway station, could not keep himself from speculating as to how much Kennedy knew of what had taken place during the walk up the Linter. Of one small circumstance that had occurred, he felt quite sure that Mr. Kennedy knew nothing. CHAPTER XVI Phineas Finn Returns to Killaloe Phineas Finn's first session of Parliament was over,--his first session with all its adventures. When he got back to Mrs. Bunce's house,--for Mrs. Bunce received him for a night in spite of her husband's advice to the contrary,--I am afraid he almost felt that Mrs. Bunce and her rooms were beneath him. Of course he was very unhappy,--as wretched as a man can be; there were moments in which he thought that it would hardly become him to live unless he could do something to prevent the marriage of Lady Laura and Mr. Kennedy. But, nevertheless, he had his consolations. These were reflections which had in them much of melancholy satisfaction. He had not been despised by the woman to whom he had told his love. She had not shown him that she thought him to be unworthy of her. She had not regarded his love as an offence. Indeed, she had almost told him that prudence alone had forbidden her to return his passion. And he had kissed her, and had afterwards
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