siness before him, he was anxious to get it
over; so he drove as fast as possible; and as the mare was fresh and
skittish, she gave him plenty to think about, and he was quite warm with
the exertion of holding her in and restraining her playful antics by the
time he pulled up at the village inn, which went by the name of the Cat
and Fiddle. Here he had the mare put up, while he walked down the one
main street of Brail, and down a lane or two, until he came to Mr.
O'Brien's sequestered cottage.

Mr. O'Brien opened the door himself. When he saw Michael, he shook his
head with an air of profound sadness, and led the way without speaking
into the parlour, where he usually sat, and where Sam was basking before
the fire after the luxurious habit of cats.

He got up, however, and rubbed his sleek head against Michael's knee as
he sat down in the black elbow-chair; but Mr. O'Brien still stood on the
rug, shaking his head sadly.

'You have come, Captain. I made up my mind you would come to-day, to get
at the rights of it; I told Mat so. "Depend upon it, the Captain will
look us up," I said to him; "he is a man of action, and it is not likely
he will let the grass grow under his feet. He will be round, sure
enough, and you will have to be ready with your answers."'

'Where is your brother, Mr. O'Brien?'

'He has gone out for a bit, but he will be back presently. I told him
not to go far. "You'll be wanted, you may take my word for it--you'll be
wanted, Mat," I told him; and then he promised he would be round
directly.'

'I am afraid this affair has been a great shock to you, Mr. O'Brien.
Miss Ross once told me that you had no idea whom your brother married.'

'Well, sir, I can't say as much as that. Mat told me that the name of
the girl he was going to wed was Olive Carrick, and that she came of
respectable people; but he did not tell me much more than that. And now
I put it to you, Captain--how was I to know that any woman would falsify
her husband's name, and that she should be living close to my doors, as
one might say?--for what is a matter of three miles? It gave me a sort
of shiver--and I have not properly got rid of it yet--when I think of
that dear young creature, whom Susan and me have always loved--that she
should be entrapped through that woman's falseness into an engagement
with Mat's son. It goes to my heart--it does indeed, Captain--to see
that dear, sweet lady dragged into a connection that will only disgrac