cester's health, he assumed an air of solemn
purpose, and said,--

"You will not accuse me of undue impatience, my dear Mr. Corrigan, nor
think me needlessly pressing, if I tell you that I have come here this
morning to learn the answer to my late proposition. Circumstances have
occurred at the hall to make my remaining there, even another day,
almost impossible. Cashel's last piece of conduct is of such a nature as
to make his acquaintance as derogatory as his friendship."

"What was it?"

"Simply this. Lord Kilgoff has at length discovered what all the world
has known for many a day back; and, in his passionate indignation, the
poor old man has been seized with a paralytic attack."

Mr. Corrigan passed his hand across his brow, as if to clear away some
terrible imagination, and sat then pale, silent, and attentive, as
Linton went on,--

"The most heartless is yet to come! While this old man lies stretched
upon his bed--insensible and dying--this is the time Cashel selects to
give a great entertainment, a ball, to above a thousand people. It is
almost too much for belief--so I feel it myself. The palsied figure of
his victim--his victim, do I say? there are two: that miserable woman,
who sits as paralyzed by terror as he is by disease--might move any man
from such levity; but Cashel is superior to such timidity; he fancies,
I believe, that this ruffian hardihood is manliness, that brutal
insensibility means courage, and so he makes his house the scene of an
orgy, when his infamy has covered it with shame. I see how this affects
you, sir; it is a theme on which I would never have touched did it not
concern my own fortunes. For me, the acquaintance of such a man is no
longer possible. For the sake of that unhappy woman, whom I knew in
better days--to cover, as far as may be, the exposure that sooner or
later must follow her fault--I am still here. You will, therefore,
forgive my importunity if I ask if Miss Leicester has been informed of
my proposal, and with what favor she deigns to regard it."

"I have told my granddaughter, sir," said the old man, tremulously, "we
have talked together on the subject; and while I am not able to speak
positively of her sentiments towards you, it strikes me that they are
assuredly not unfavorable. The point is, however, too important to admit
a doubt: with your leave, we will confer together once again."

"Might I not be permitted to address the young lady myself, sir? The
case t