'Rest.'

'Impossible!' I exclaimed; and Mr. Hastings looked rather indignant.

'Indeed you must try to sleep, or at least to rest,' said Nanny, who knew him better.

'We will not let streak of day; I will open that upper shutter, and watch for you.'

you linger a moment after the first

'I thank you, Miss Nanny; I think we may depend that you will not let me sleep too long; so you may all sit there and keep watch if you please, and I will settle myself here;' and he flung himself on a sofa.

We all agreed not to separate, and, drawing closer round the fire, held a short consultation, the result of which was, that it was expedient that Mr. Irwin's sudden departure should not be made known in the house. This being determined Nanny quietly left the room, and returned with all his wet habiliments, which she contrived to secure without observation, and they were spread before our fire-side. We then sat silent, leaving the weary traveller to rest. How present are the recollections of such seasons to us through after days! But when Nanny knew that the servants had retired to rest, she again stole out, and brought back with her a small tray containing all the necessaries for giving him a cup of coffee before his departure. At length the watched-for streak of light was perceived on the edge of a murky cloud. The curate was aroused, the coffee poured out; he was carefully muffled by sundry hands; a blessing on his object was asked by the rector; Mr. Hastings saddled his horse and led it to the door, and we watched him as long as his figure was the least to be discerned in the grey and cheerless twilight.

We must turn now to a different scene.

That evening as Peggy Morrow sat with her husband at his fireside, her open and very sagacious countenance wore an air of deep thought.

6

Why then Rob,' she said, as if suddenly giving vent to her thoughts, isn't it an extraordinary thing all out, how that man came by his death?'

'What is in the woman's mind now?' said Bob, speaking of, rather than to, his wife, although there was no other listener present. 'She wo'nt rest any way until she knows the ins and outs of the matter.'

"Then the never a one of myself would care to know anything about it,' Peggy replied. But isn't it a queer thing that you who have seen so many men killed in your day, couldn't make out what it was that gave Pat Dogherty his death-blow?'

'Indeed, then, I never thought about it; but what is it you are at now, woman?'

Couldn't you tell when you saw the body whether it was the blow of a stick, or a stone, or a fall, or what it was that killed the man?'

'It was a blow, sure enough, but not a blow of a stone, or the skin would be cut, neither was it a stick, but like something heavier.'

Peggy sat erect on her stool, and fastened her eyes on her husband.

'Did you search the place, Rob Morrow? or will you go off and search it to-morrow, or myself will be off by break of morn?'

'There would be no use in that now, Peggy; it could do poor John no good.'

May be that's more than you can tell, Rob,' Peggy replied, looking very wise. 'However, that's neither here nor there; but if you think it's all over with

John Tennisson, may be you are mistaken. There will be another trial for it, I'm thinking, before he sets his foot on the gallows. Hav'n't I known all about it the whole of this blessed day; didn't I know that there came down to his Reverence last night, in all the storm, a great man from the Castle of Dublin, and didn't his Reverence make interest with him to save John, and send him off at peep of day to the magistrates; and hav'n't I heard just now from Billy Nowlan, that's helper at the Glebe, how he is come back there again, and says that John won't be hung awhile longer; and if matters are better made out, perhaps he won't be hung at all; and wouldn't that be the blessed news for the poor girl over there?'

' And what for would you have me search, Peggy?' Rob demanded, who did not possess the sagacious mind of his wife.

'Just look for whatever you can find, and if you find anything you ever saw before, say nothing about it, but just bring it home to me, and mind above all things, you let nobody see it, or it will be as much as your life is worth.'

6

The blessed saints keep us from evil. Peggy Morrow, but it's yourself is able to frighten one! Ah, then, woman, what is come over you? You spoke like one that knew something.'

'I don't know anything at all, but do my bidding, Rob dear, and you'll have my blessing, and more than mine.'

And if I stay from work, what will the master say?'

'If you make a good day's work where you are going, it's himself will be proud of it, and if you start with the first light you will be back time

enough to make half a day; and if you are no wiser than before you went, we must make an excuse for you.'

'Well, Peggy, you are a woman all out; but mind and waken us early;' and throwing himself on his bed, Rob slept until his wife, who had retained her place by the fire, shook him awake, and dispatched him upon his mission.

Peggy had calculated the time of his return; but though aware that it could not be until a certain hour, she had been in a state of excitement which prevented her from finding any occupation, so that she had only managed to sweep her cabin floor half over when that hour arrived, and was stooping in a listening attitude, her apron tucked over on one side, the besom suspended in her hand, and her eye directed to the door, when her husband's step approached it.

Morrow shut the door, and drew close to his wife, who looked in his face with an air that shewed she expected to hear his search had not been unproductive.

Peggy, woman,' said the simple man, 'I believe I'll have no more to do with you.'

'What have you found?' asked Peggy, breathlessly, and unheeding her husband's superstitious suspicions. Have you found -She stopped as if fearful of pronouncing the word.

'Put your hand down my back, and you will get what I found,' he replied; a fearful thing it is to have about one, the holy Mary keep us from evil. Amen.'

Peggy put her hand down the back of his waistcoat, and a scream both of terror and pleasure was

bursting from her lips as she drew up a short, thick whip-handle, heavily loaded with lead.

'The blessed saints and angels be praised!' she exclaimed, falling on her knees, while the singular cause of her thanksgiving lay on the ground before her. I knew it. I knew it. I dreamed about it the night before last, and it has been in my mind sleeping and waking; I knew he took it to the fair that morning.'

'Aye, it was that, sure enough, that gave Pat Dogherty his death-blow,' said Morrow. No one that saw the black mark on his temple but could tell that, and not a man in the parish but could swear to the owner of it.'

'Don't let it lie on your floor, any way, Rob Morrow,' said Peggy, in a voice which the simple man now listened to as to one of inspiration.

What am I to do with it, Peggy, avourneen?'

'Put it up where it was before; it was well you had the wit to hide it there,' she added, at the same time reinserting the awful instrument in its former concealment. Go your way, now; never stop nor stay till you get to the master; don't say a word to any one; not to the servants, nor the company, nor even to Miss Nanny, only to himself; you'll know what to say when you see him for it's not lucky to be talking about it here.'

Morrow accordingly soon presented himself at the Glebe, lounged about till he caught a glimpse of the Rector, claimed an audience, and was admitted.

Not long after, his wife, too, came there and asked for me, ostensibly to receive some directions about poor Kate Conolly, who was very ill, but in reality to