h a frank expression of pleasure and concern; took his seat by my
bedside; congratulated me on the favourable issue of my illness, and
repeated those apologies and explanations which his daughter had
already made; adding that his first intention had been to detain me
prisoner, so that I could have no opportunity of betraying them until
their departure for France; but that the moment he had heard my
undisguised ravings, he perceived the injustice of which he had been
guilty; that Aleck's speech having returned soon after, (for the poor
fellow was so beaten that he could not say a word for three days--but
I have taken good care of him), another evidence, however unnecessary,
was afforded by his declaration; and that, therefore, a messenger was
immediately despatched to Knowehead, with private letters, explaining
our situation and its causes, and resting on the honour of my friend
for the security of all. The trust had been well reposed: Aleck, who
was able to go home in a few days, had come the night before (although
returned that morning) with the intelligence of the real spy having
applied for information to the old gentleman; but that, loyal subject
and zealous Protestant as he was, he had given him no more than a
civil indication of his door. All this he told with a gratified and
grateful air, and left me to a night of happy dreams.

Next morning, however, he came to me, and in a serious, nay severe
manner, told me, that as I had divulged the motive which brought me
thither in my ravings, he felt it a duty to himself and to me, now
that I was established in my recovery, to inform me that, while he
forgave my intrusion on a privacy he had already begged me not to
break, he must desire that there should be no recurrence of attentions
to his daughter, which might distract a heart destined either for the
service of a free Catholic in regenerated Ireland, or for that of
Heaven in a nunnery.

He had laid his hand upon the table, and it unconsciously rested upon
the seals of my watch. "Look," said I, "at these trinkets; I shall
tell you what they are, and let them be my answer. That rude silver
seal, with the arms and initials, was dug from my father's orchard,
along with the bones of his ancestor, who fell there beneath the
knives of free Catholics in --41, a greyhaired man, among the seven
bodies of his murdered wife and children. Look again at that curious
ring; it was worn by his son, the sole survivor of all that ancie