It was at last
thought better that she should go to her father and live in France with
him, reprobate though the man was. The priest offered to find a home for
her in his own house at Liscannor; but, as he said himself, he was an
old man, and one who when he went would leave no home behind him. And
then it was felt that the close vicinity of the spot on which her lover
had perished would produce a continued melancholy that might crush her
spirits utterly. Captain O'Hara therefore was desired to come and fetch
his child,--and he did so, with many protestations of virtue for the
future. If actual pecuniary comfort can conduce to virtue in such a man,
a chance was given him. The Earl of Scroope was only too liberal in the
settlement he made. But the settlement was on the daughter and not on
the father; and it is possible therefore that some gentle restraint may
have served to keep him out of the deep abysses of wickedness.

The effects of the tragedy on the coast of Clare spread beyond Ireland,
and drove another woman to the verge of insanity. When the Countess of
Scroope heard the story, she shut herself up at Scroope and would see no
one but her own servants. When the succeeding Earl came to the house
which was now his own, she refused to admit him into her presence, and
declined even a renewed visit from Miss Mellerby who at that time had
returned to her father's roof. At last the clergyman of Scroope
prevailed, and to him she unburdened her soul,--acknowledging, with an
energy that went perhaps beyond the truth, the sin of her own conduct in
producing the catastrophe which had occurred. "I knew that he had
wronged her, and yet I bade him not to make her his wife." That was the
gist of her confession and she declared that the young man's blood would
be on her hands till she died. A small cottage was prepared for her on
the estate, and there she lived in absolute seclusion till death
relieved her from her sorrows.

And she lived not only in seclusion, but in solitude almost to her
death. It was not till four years after the occurrences which have been
here related that John fourteenth Earl of Scroope brought a bride home
to Scroope Manor. The reader need hardly be told that that bride was
Sophie Mellerby. When the young Countess came to live at the Manor the
old Countess admitted her visits and at last found some consolation in
her friend's company. But it lasted not long, and then she was taken
away and buried beside