er with something
like curiosity rather than alarm, replied--

"'Well--'

"'Mary,' said he, 'make haste and go to heaven; make haste and go to
heaven--you'll find them all there--Hugh Regan, and Torley, and little
Brian. Don't stop here, for there will be more blood, more bloodhounds,
and more Val M'Clutchy's.'

"She did not seem to have noticed his particular words, but there
appeared to have been some association awakened which gave a new impulse
to her thoughts--

"'Come away,' said she, 'come away!'

"Raymond turned, and looking towards where I stood, beckoned me to
follow them; and truly it was a touching sight to see this unregulated
attempt of the poor innocent, to sooth the heavy sorrows--if such they
were now--of one of whose malady could appreciate no sympathy, and whose
stricken heart was apparently beyond the reach of consolation forever.

"Both now proceeded in silence, Raymond still holding her by the hand,
and affording her every assistance, as we crossed the fields, in order
to shorten the path which led us to the Castle Cumber road. On coming
to a ditch, for instance, he would lift her, but still with care and
gentleness, in his powerful arms, and place her, with scarcely any
effort of her own strength, which, indeed, was nearly gone, safely and
easily upon the other side.

"We had now crossed that part of the sloping upland which led us
out upon a bridle road, that passed close by M'Loughlin's house and
manufactory, and which, slanted across a ford in the river, a little
above their flax-mill. Having got out upon this little road, Raymond,
who, as well as his companion, had for some time past proceeded in
silence, stopped suddenly, and said--'Where is heaven, Mary?'

"She involuntarily looked up towards the sky, with a quick but
more significant glance than any I had yet seen her give; but this
immediately passed away, and she said in a low voice, very full of the
usual tones of sorrow:--'Heaven--it's there,' she replied, pointing
behind her, towards the burying-place, 'in their graves!'

"Raymond looked at me, and smiled, as if much pleased with the answer.
'Ay,' said he, 'so it is--wherever his white head lies is heaven.'

"I cannot tell how it happened, but I know that I felt every source of
tenderness and compassion in my heart moved and opened more by these
simple words on both sides, than by all that had passed since we met
her.

"In a few minutes more we reached that part of the ro