eet
voices of my interesting constituency. You know that I am a candidate
for the borough."

"That must be very disagreeable."

"It is, but I could not get off; Cashel is incurably lazy, and _I_ never
know how to say 'no.'"

"Well, good-bye, and all fortune to you," said she; and they drove away.

Mr. Kennyfeck and the Chief Justice, mounted on what are called
sure-footed ponies, and a few others, still lingered about the door, but
Linton took no notice of them, but at once re-entered the house.

For some time previous he had remarked that Lord Kilgoff seemed, as
it were, struggling to emerge from the mist that had shrouded his
faculties; his perceptions each day grew quicker and clearer, and even
when silent, Linton observed that a shrewd expression of the eye would
betoken a degree of apprehension few would have given him credit for.
With the keenness of a close observer, too, Linton perceived that he
more than once made use of his favorite expression, "It appears to me,"
and slight as the remark might seem, there is no more certain evidence
of the return to thought and reason than the resumption of any habitual
mode of expression.

Resolved to profit by this gleam of coming intelligence, by showing
the old peer an attention he knew would be acceptable, Linton sent up
a message to ask "If his Lordship would like a visit from him?" A
most cordial acceptance was returned; and, a few moments after, Linton
entered the room where he sat, with all that delicate caution so
becoming a sick chamber.

Motioning his visitor to sit down, by a slight gesture of the finger,
while he made a faint effort to smile, in return for the other's
salutation, the old man sat, propped up by pillows, and enveloped in
shawls, pale, sad, and careworn.

"I was hesitating for two entire days, my Lord," said Linton, lowering
his voice to suit the character of the occasion, "whether I might
propose to come and sit an hour with you, and I have only to beg
that you will not permit me to trespass a moment longer than you feel
disposed to endure me."

"Very kind of you--most considerate, sir," said the old peer, bowing
with an air of haughty courtesy.

"You seem to gain strength every day, my Lord," resumed Linton, who
well knew there was nothing like a personal topic to awaken a sick man's
interest.

"There is something here," said the old man, slowly, as he placed the
tip of his finger on the centre of his forehead.

"Mere debility, n