take a small taste o' liberty wid the thief."

In the course of a minute or two, Julia made her appearance at the
window, with, in fact, a blushing face, if it could have only been seen
with sufficient light. Now that she stood within a couple of yards of
Moylan, she felt all the awkwardness and embarrassment of the task
she had undertaken, which was to inquire, without seeming to feel any
personal interest, as to the cause of her lover's absence. In addition
to the prevailing agitation, and the outrages arising from if, she had
heard of so many accidents with sportsmen, so many guns had burst, so
many explosions had taken place, and so many lives had been lost, that
her warm fancy pictured his death in almost every variety of way in
which a gun could occasion it. Owing to all this, she experienced
a proportionable share of confusion and diffidence in managing her
inquiries with proper address, and without betraying any suspicion of
her motives.

"Mogue," said she, "I--hem--hem--I hope you don't feel fatigued after
your sport'?"

"Ah, then, there it comes," thought Mogue; "how the crature feels for
me! an' even if I did, Miss Julia, sure one kind word when I come home
is fit to cure it."

"And you are sure to get that, Mogue," replied Julia, who took it for
granted that he referred to Letty Lenehan, "but whisper," she proceeded,
still speaking in a low voice, from an apprehension of being heard
making the proposed inquiries by any of her family, "are you alone?"

"I am, indeed, Miss Julia," he replied in a tone of such coaxing and
significant confidence, as would have been irresistibly laughable had
she understood why he used it, "I am alone, Miss Julia, and you needn't
be either ashamed or daunted in sayin' whatever you like to me--maybe I
could guess what you're goin' to say, but I declare to you, and that
my bed may be in heaven, but, say what you will, you'll find me--honor
bright--do you understand that, Miss Julia?"

"Well, I think I do, Mogue, and if I didn't think so, I wouldn't have
watched your return to-night as I did, or been here to speak to you on
the subject you say you--know."

"An' sure, Miss Julia, you might a known, for some time past that I knew
it; didn't I look like one that was up to it? An' listen hether, Miss
Julia, my family was all honor bright; we wor great people in our day;
sure we owned a big sweep of country long ago an' wor great sogers. We
fought against the Sassenaghs, the dirt