the
country."

The lord and the parson talked the matter over till they reached
Dunmore, and agreed that they would go, with Colligan, to Barry Lynch;
tell him of the charge which was brought against him, and give him
his option of standing his trial, or of leaving the country, under a
written promise that he would never return to it. In this case, he was
also to write a note to Anty, signifying his consent that she should
marry Martin Kelly, and also execute some deed by which all control
over the property should be taken out of his own hands; and that he
should agree to receive his income, whatever it might be, through the
hands of an agent.

There were sundry matters connected with the subject, which were rather
difficult of arrangement. In the, first place, Frank was obliged, very
unwillingly, to consent that Mr Armstrong should remain, at any rate
one day longer, in the country. It was, however, at last settled that
he should return that night and sleep at Kelly's Court. Then Lord
Ballindine insisted that they should tell young Kelly what they were
about, before they went to Barry's house, as it would be necessary to
consult him as to the disposition he would wish to have made of the
property. Armstrong was strongly against this measure,--but it was, at
last, decided on; and then they had to induce Colligan to go with them.
He much wished them to manage the business without him. He had had
quite enough of Dunmore House; and, in spite of the valiant manner in
which he had knocked its owner down the last time he was there, seemed
now quite afraid to face him. But Mr Armstrong informed him that he
must go on now, as he had said so much, and at last frightened him into
an unwilling compliance.

The three of them went up into the little parlour of the inn, and
summoned Martin to the conference, and various were the conjectures
made by the family as to the nature of the business which brought three
such persons to the inn together. But the widow settled them all by
asserting that "a Kelly needn't be afeared, thank God, to see his own
landlord in his own house, nor though he brought an attorney wid him as
well as a parson and a docther." And so, Martin was sent for, and soon
heard the horrid story. Not long after he had joined them, the four
sallied out together, and Meg remarked that something very bad was
going to happen, for the lord never passed her before without a kind
word or a nod; and now he took no more noti