be helped; I only ax you to remember Nogher, that, you know, loved
you as if you wor his own; remimber me, Connor, of an odd time. I never
thought--oh, Grod, I never thought to see this day! No wondher--oh, no
wondher that the fair young crature should be pale and worn, an' sick
at heart! I love her now, an' ever will, as well as I did yourself. I'll
never see her, Connor, widout thinkin' heavily of him that her heart was
set upon, an' that will then be far away from her an' from all that ever
loved him."

"Nogher," replied Connor, "I'm not without hope that--but this--this is
folly. You know I have a right to be thankful to God and the goodness
of government for sparin' my life. Now, farewell--it is forever, Nogher,
an' it is a tryin' word to-day; but you know that every one goin'
to America must say it; so, think that I'm goin' there, an' it won't
signify."

"Ah, Connor, I wish I could," replied Nogher; "but, to tell the truth,
what breaks my heart is, to think of the way you are goin' from us.
Farewell, then, Connor darlin; an' may the blessin' of God, an' His holy
mother, an' of all the saints be upon you now an' foriver. Amin!"

His tears flowed fast, and he sobbed aloud, whilst uttering the last
words; he then threw his arms about Connor's neck, and, having kissed
him, he again wrung his hand, and passed out of the cell in an agony of
grief.

Such is the anomalous nature of that peculiar temperament, which, in
Ireland, combines within it the extremes of generosity and crime. Here
was a man who had been literally affectionate and harmless during his
whole past life, yet, who was now actually plotting the murder of a
person who had never,--except remotely, by his treachery to Connor, whom
he loved--rendered him an injury, or given him any cause of offence.
And what can show us the degraded state of moral feeling among a people
whose natural impulses are as quick to virtue as to vice, and the
reckless estimate which the peasantry form of human life, more clearly
than the fact, that Connor, the noble--minded, heroic, and pious
peasant, could admire the honest attachment of hia old friend, without
dwelling upon the dark point in his character, and mingle his tears
with a man who was deliberately about to join in, or encompass, the
assassination of a fellow-creature!

Even against persons of his own creed the Irishman thinks that revenge
is a duty which he owes to himself;--but against those of a different
faith i