s seemed already to
participate in the eventful fate of a distracted country. He regretted,
deeply regretted, that he had ever come to Ireland. He began to learn
how little power there is to guide the helm of human fortune, when once
engaged in the stormy current, and he saw himself already the sport of a
destiny he had never anticipated.

If he was puzzled at the aspect of a peasantry, highly gifted with
intelligence, yet barbarously ignorant--active and energetic, yet
indolent and fatalist--the few hints he had gathered of his neighbour,
the O'Donoghue, amazed him still more; and by no effort of his
imagination could he conceive the alliance between family pride and
poverty--between the reverence for ancestry, and an utter indifference
to the present. He could not understand such an anomaly as pretension
without wealth; and the only satisfactory explanation he could arrive
at, to himself, was, that in a wild and secluded tract, even so much
superiority as this old chieftain possessed, attracted towards him the
respect of all humbler and more lowly than himself, and made even
his rude state seem affluence and power. If in his advances to the O'
Donoghue he had observed all the forms of a measured respect, it was
because he felt so deeply his debtor for a service, that he would omit
nothing in the repayment: his gratitude was sincere and heartfelt, and
he would not admit any obstacle in the way of acknowledging it.

Reflecting thus, he was suddenly startled by the sound of wheels coming
up the glen--he listened, and now heard the low trot of a horse, and
the admonitions of a man's voice, delivered in tones of anger and
impatience. The moment after, an old-fashioned gig, drawn by a small
miserable pony, appeared, from which a man had dismounted to ascend the
hill.

"A fine evening, sir," said Sir Marmaduke, as the stranger, whose dress
bespoke one of the rank of gentleman, drew near.

The other stopped suddenly, and surveyed the baronet without speak ing;
then, throwing down the collar of his great coat, which he wore high
round his face, he made a respectful salute, and said--

"A lovely evening, sir. I have the honour to see Sir Marmaduke Travers,
I believe? May I introduce myself, Doctor Roach, of Killarney?"

"Ah, indeed! Then you are probably come from Mr. O'Donoghue's house? Is
the young gentleman better this evening?"

Roach shook his head dubiously, but made no reply.

"I hope, sir, you don't apprehend d