im well, and scan every detail of
his appearance.

Although tall and stoutly knit, he could not have been above sixteen, or
at most seventeen, years of age; his dress, a kind of shooting-jacket,
was made in a cut that affected fashion; and I observed on one finger
of his very white hand a ring which, even to my uneducated eyes, bespoke
considerable value.

He looked up at last, and his eyes were very red, and a certain
trembling of the lips showed that he was much affected. "I suppose, my
lad, I can find a chaise or a carriage of some kind in Kilbeggan?" said
he; "for I have lost the mail. I had got out for a walk, and by the
advice of a countryman taken this path over the bog, expecting, as he
told me, it would cut off several miles of way. I suppose I must have
mistaken him, for I have been running for above an hour, and am too late
after all; but still, if I can find a chaise, I shall be in time yet."

"They 're all gone, sir," said I; "and sorry am I to have such tidings
to tell. The Sessions broke up to-day, and they're away with the lawyers
to Kinnegad."

"And how far is that from us?"

"Sixteen miles or more, by the road."

"And how am I to get there?"

"Unless ye walk it--"

"Walk! impossible. I am dead beat already; besides, the time it would
take would lose me all chance of reaching Dublin as I want."

"Andy Smith has a horse, if he'd lend it; and there's a short road by
Hogan's boreen."

"Where does this Smith live?" said he, stopping me impatiently.

"Not a half mile from here; you can see the house from this."

"Come along, then, and show me the way, my boy," said he; and the gleam
of hope seemed to lend alacrity to his movements.

Away we set together, and as we went, it was arranged between us that if
Andy would hire out his mare, I should accompany the rider as guide, and
bring back the animal to its owner, while the traveller proceeded on his
journey to town.

The negotiation was tedious enough; for, at first, Andy would n't appear
at all; he thought it was a process-server was after him,--a suspicion
probably suggested by my presence, as it was generally believed that a
rag of my father's mantle had descended to me. It was only after a very
cautious and careful scrutiny of the young traveller through a small
glass eye--it wasn't a window--in the mud wall that he would consent to
come out. When he did so, he treated the proposal most indignantly.
"Is it he hire out his baste? as if she