but
you're sufferin' enough to wear you out."

"It is," said Fardorougha, "it is." A silence of some minutes ensued,
during which, Connor perceived that the old man, overcome with care and
misery, had actually! fallen asleep with his head upon his bosom. This
circumstance, though by no means extraordinary, affected him very much.
On surveying the pallid face of his father, and the worn, thread--like
veins that ran along his temples, and calling to mind the love of the
old man for himself, which even avarice, in its deadliest power, failed
to utterly overcome, he felt all the springs of his affection loosened,
and his soul vibrated with a tenderness towards him, such as no
situation in their past lives had ever before created.

"If my fate chances to be an untimely one, father dear," he slowly
murmured, "we'll soon meet in another place; for I know that you will
not long live after me."

He then thought with bitterness of his mother and Una, and wondered at
the mystery of the trial to which he was exposed.

The old man's slumber, however, was not dreamless, nor so refreshing
as the exhaustion of a frame shattered by the havoc of contending
principles required. On the contrary, it was disturbed by heavy groans,
quick startings, and those twitchings of the limbs which betoken a
restless mood of mind, and a nervous system highly excited. In the
course of half an hour, the symptoms of his inward commotion became
more apparent. From being, as at first, merely physical, they assumed
a mental character, anil passed from ejaculations and single words, to
short sentences, and ultimately to those of considerable length.

"Gone!" he exclaimed, "gone! Oh God my curse--starved--dog--wid my tongue
out!"

This dread of starvation, which haunted him through life, appeared in
his dream still to follow him like a demon.

"I'm dyin'," he said, "I'm dyin' wid hunger--will no one give me a
morsel? I was robbed an' have no money--don't you see me starvin'? I'm
cuttin' wid hunger--five days without mate--bring me mate, for God's
sake--mate, mate, mate!--I'm gaspin--my tongue's out; look at me, like a
dog, behind this ditch, an' my tongue out!"

The son at this period would have awoke him, but he became more
composed, for a time, and enjoyed apparently a refreshing sleep. Still,
it soon was evident that he dreamt, and as clear that a change had come
o'er the spirit of his dream.

"Who'll prevent me!" he exclaimed. "Isn't he my son--