gation to any one of
so solemn a kind as that." He then sent his affectionate love and duty
to his mother, at whose name his eyes were again filled with tears, and
begged the old man to comfort and support her with the utmost care and
tenderness. As she was unwell, he requested him to dissuade her against
visiting him till after the trial, lest an interview might increase her
illness, and render her less capable of bearing up under an unfavorable
sentence, should such be the issue of the prosecution. Having then bade
farewell to, and embraced the old man, the latter departed with more
calmness and fortitude than he had up to that period displayed.

When Time approaches the miserable with calamity in his train, his
opinion is swifter than that of the eagle; but, alas! when carrying them
towards happiness, his pace is slower than is that of the tortoise. The
only three persons on earth, whose happiness was involved in that of
O'Donovan, found themselves, on the eve of the assizes, overshadowed by
a dreariness of heart, that was strong in proportion to the love they
bore him. The dead calm which had fallen on Fardorougha was absolutely
more painful to his wife than would have been the paroxysms that
resulted from his lust of wealth. Since his last interview with Connor,
he never once alluded to the loss of his money, unless abruptly in
his dreams, but there was stamped upon his whole manner a gloomy and
mysterious composure, which, of itself, wofully sank her spirits,
independently of the fate which impended over their son. The change,
visible on both, and the breaking down of their strength were indeed
pitiable.

As for Una, it would be difficult to describe her struggle between
confidence in his innocence, and apprehension of the law, which she knew
had often punished the guiltless instead of the criminal. 'Tis true she
attempted to assume, in the eyes of others, a fortitude which belied
her fears, and even affected to smile at the possibility of her lover's
honor and character suffering any tarnish from the ordeal to which they
were about to be submitted. Her smile, however, on such occasions, was
a melancholy one, and the secret tears she shed might prove, as they did
to her brother, who was alone privy to her grief, the extent of those
terrors which, notwithstanding her disavowal of them, wrung her soul
so bitterly. Day after day her spirits became more and more depressed,
till, as the crisis of Connor's fate arrived