as to what became of him.

A night's sound sleep and a good breakfast were already contributing
much to efface the memory of past sufferings, when Sybella Kellett
entered his room. She had been over to the cottage, had visited the
whole locality, transacted all the business she had come for, and only
diverged from her homeward route on hearing that Mr. Hankes had just
arrived at Bantry. Rather apologizing for having left _him_ than
accusing him of deserting _her_, she rapidly proceeded to sketch out her
own journey. She did not dwell upon any incidents of the way,--had they
been really new or strange she would not have recalled them,--she only
adverted to what had constituted the object of her coming,--the purchase
of the small townland which she had completed.

"It is a dear old place," said she, "of a fashion one so rarely sees in
Ireland, the house being built after that taste known as Elizabethan,
and by tradition said to have once been inhabited by the poet Spenser.
It is very small, and so hidden by a dense beech-wood, that you might
pass within fifty yards of the door and never see it. This rude drawing
may give you some idea of it."

"And does the sea come up so close as this?" asked Hankes, eagerly.

"The little fishing-boat ran into the cove you see there; her mainsail
dropped over the new-mown hay."

"Why, it 's the very thing Lord Lockewood is looking for, He is
positively wild about a spot in some remote out-of-the-way region; and
then, what you tell me of its being a poet's house will complete the
charm. You said Shakspeare--"

"No, Spenser, the poet of the 'Faerie Queene,'" broke she in, with a
smile.

"It's all the same; he 'll give it a fanciful name, and the association
with its once owner will afford him unceasing amusement."

"I hope he is not destined to enjoy the pleasure you describe."

"No?--why not, pray?"

"I hope and trust that the place may not pass into his hands; in a word,
I intend to ask Mr. Dunn to allow me to be the purchaser. I find that
the sum is almost exactly the amount I have invested in the Allotment
scheme,--these same shares we spoke of,--and I mean to beg as a great
favor,--a very great favor,--to be permitted to make this exchange. I
want no land,--nothing but the little plot around the cottage."

"The cottage formerly inhabited by the poet Spenser, built in the purest
Elizabethan style, and situated in a glen,--you said a glen, I think,
Miss Kellett?" said Hanke