ad been paralyzed.

"Oh thin," said he, fervently, "may every hair on your honor's head
become a mould-candle to light you into glory! The world's goodness is
in your heart, sir; an' may all the blessin's of Heaven rain down upon
you an' yours!"

The two gentlemen then gave assistance to the poor scholar, whom the
Bishop addressed in kind and encouraging language:

"Come to me, my good boy," he added, "and if, on further inquiry, I find
that your conduct has been such as I believe it to have been, you may
rest assured, provided also you continue worthy of my good opinion, that
I shall be a friend and protector to you. Call on me when you got well,
and I will speak to you at greater length."

"Well," observed Connor, when they were gone, "the divil's own hard
puzzle the Bishop had me in, about stalin' the milk. It went agin' the
grain wid me to tell him the lie, so I had to invint a bit o' truth to
keep my conscience clear; for sure there was not a man among us that
could tell him, barrin' we said that we oughtn't to say. Doesn't all the
world know that a man oughtn't to condimn himself? That was thruth, any
way; but divil a scruple I'd have in blammin' the other--not but that
he's one o' the best of his sort. Paddy Dunn, quit lookin' at that
crown, but get the shovel an' give the boy his dhrink--he's wantin' it."

The agitation of spirits produced by Jemmy's cheering interview with
the Bishop was, for three days afterwards, somewhat prejudicial to his
convalescence. In less than a week, however, he was comfortably settled
with Mr. O'Rorke's family, whose kindness proved to him quite as warm as
he had expected.

When he had remained with them a few days, he resolved to recommence
his studies under his tyrant master. He certainly knew that his future
attendance at the school would be penal to him, but he had always looked
forward to the accomplishment of his hopes as a task of difficulty and
distress. The severity to be expected from the master could not,
he thought, be greater than that which he had already suffered; he
therefore decided, if possible, to complete his education under him.

The school, when Jemmy appeared in it, had been for more than an hour
assembled, but the thinness of the attendance not only proved the woful
prevalence of sickness and distress in the parish, but sharpened the
pedagogue's vinegar aspect into an expression of countenance singularly
peevish and gloomy. When the lad entered, a murm