cow,
your coorse will be short; an' mark, even if you escape me, your sons
won't: I have it all planned: an' _corp an duowol!_ thim you won't know
from Adam will revenge me, if I am taken up through your unmanliness."

"'Twould be betther for us to lave the counthry," said Anne; "we might
slip away as it is."

"Ay," said the father, "an' be taken by the neck afore we'd get two
miles from the place! no, no, girl; it's the safest way to brazen thim
out. Did you hear me, Denis?"

Denis started, for he had been evidently pondering on the mysterious
words of Anne, to which his brother's anxiety to conceal them gave
additional mystery. The coffin, too, recurred to him; and he feared that
the death shadowed out by it would in some manner or other occur in the
family. He was, in fact, one of those miserable villains with but half
a conscience;--that is to say, as much as makes them the slaves of the
fear which results from crime, without being the slightest impediment to
their committing it. It was no wonder he started at the deep pervading
tones of his brother's voice, for the question was put with ferocious
energy.

On starting, he looked with vague terror on his brother, fearing, but
not comprehending, his question.

"What is it, Anthony?" he inquired. "Oh, for that matther," replied
the other, "nothin' at all: think of what I said to you any how; swear
through thick an' thin, if you have a regard for your own health, or
for your childher. Maybe I had betther repate it again for you?" he
continued, eyeing him with mingled fear and suspicion. "Dennis, as a
friend, I bid you mind yourself this day, an' see you don't bring aither
of us into throuble."

There lay before the Cassidys' houses a small flat of common, trodden
into rings by the young horses they were in the habit of training. On
this level space were assembled those who came, either to clear their
own character from suspicion, or to witness the ceremony. The day was
dark and lowering, and heavy clouds rolled slowly across the peaks of
the surrounding mountains; scarcely a breath of air could be felt; and,
as the country people silently approached, such was the closeness of the
day, their haste to arrive in time, and their general anxiety, either
for themselves or their friends, that almost every man, on reaching the
spot, might be seen taking up the skirts of his "cothamore," or "big
coat," (the peasant's handkerchief), to wipe the sweat from his brow;
and a