d, "wid de jolly cocks--sure I mostly roost
it; an' better company too than most people, for they're fond o' me.
Didn't you see? ha, ha!"

"I believe I understand you now," said Father Roche; "you've slept near
somebody's hen roost, and have stolen the cock--to whom are you carrying
it?"

"You won't tell to-morrow; ha, ha, there now, take a rub too--that's
one."

"Poor creature," said the priest to his companion, "I am told he is
affectionate, and where he takes a fancy or has received a kindness,
very grateful."

The parish where the circumstances we are describing occurred, having
been that in which Raymond was born, of course the poor fool was
familiar to every one in it, as indeed every one in it, young and old,
was to him.

During the short dialogue between him and the priest, the female,
absorbed in her own heavy sorrow, was observed by Raymond occasionally
to wipe the tears from her eyes; a slight change, a shade of apparent
compassion came over his countenance, and turning to her, he gently laid
his hand upon her shoulder, and said, in a voice different from, his
flighty and abrupt manner--

"Don't cry, Mary, he has company, and good things that were brought to
him--he has indeed, Mary; so don't be crying now."

"What do you mean, poor boy?" asked the woman; "I don't understand you,
Raymond."

"It is difficult to do that at all times," said Father Roche, "but
notwithstanding the wildness of his manner, he is seldom without
meaning. Raymond will you tell me where you came from now?" he asked.

"From your house," he replied; "I went to fetch you to him; but you were
both gone, and I overtook you--I could aisy do that--ha ha."

"But what is the company that's with him, Raymond?" asked the female,
naturally anxious to understand this part of his communication. Raymond,
however, was now in one of his silent moods, and appeared not to hear
her; at all events, he did not think it worth his while to give her any
reply. For a short period he kept murmuring indistinctly to himself, or
if a word or two became audible, it was clear that his favorite sport of
cock-fighting had altogether engrossed his attention.

They had now reached a rough, dark knoll of heath, which brought them
in view of the cabin to which they were going, and also commanded an
extensive and glorious prospect of the rich and magnificent inland
country which lay behind them. The priest and his now almost exhausted
companion, to whom its sc