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""i AT iTj BIGHTS BESE5VKD*

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AT iTj BIGHTS BESE5VKD* I Kathleen Mavourneen. | $BT i, g F. FRANKFORT MOORE. | 1 0 Author of 0 THE JESSAMY BRIDE, Sec. 0 N>? 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 o o o o o Q--I 6YXOPSIS OF PREVIOUS INSTALMENTS.—Major Ainlie has purchased a property in Ireland which has n sold by the mortgagees, and has gone to take possession of it with his friend, Algie St. Maur. 011 arrival at the Castle they find the place deserted, though their rooms and a luxurious meal have been prepared. After a h-Hty supper they are sitting emokjns when the door is suddenly flung open, a. band of men rush in, and they are covered by the g-uns of some of the intruders, who explain that they have come to prevent Ainlie from dispossessing the old family, thi) Mahonys. Things look very serious for Ainlie and his friend when, by a smart piect1 of stratagem, the tables are turned, and the moonlichters are at the mercy of the Knglishmeii. Simultaneously the police arrive, but Ainlie refuses to prosecute, contenting himself with giving the ringleader a severe thrashing with his most familiar weapc,n--a blackthorn. CHAPTER III. A FATEFUL MEETING. Mr. IT-agnire was the young man who had oted as agent for Major Ainlie in the pur- chase of Rathdearg Castle and all the fishing and shooting rights that went with the property. He had also engaged the servants and made rather hurried arrangements for the arrival of the mew owner and his friend. Captain St. Maur had become acquainted with Ma.guire during a previous visit to the neighbourhood, and had strongly recommended him to Ainlie as a meet com- petent man, and one who was very popular with all classes. recommended him to Ainlie as a meet com- petent man, and one who was very popular with all classes. He paid his promised visit to the Castle the next day, bringing with him Mr. Singer, the constabulary officer. Both these gentle- men were highly diverted by the shillelagh duel with Sulliva;n-whi,oh, by the way, they (had witnessed through one of the windows. My deair sir," said the officer, "you do mot suppose that I did not know that some- thing of that sort was in the air? I eaw by the look on your face when you told that Trasoai to remain that you meant to give him the finest hiding he ever had in his life, end as I've been longing for the past year to hide him myself the tempta,tion to watch the job being done was too much for me." I suppose that next to the pleasure of hiding: a rascal yourself is watching another JnajD. do it for yon," remarked St. Maur. "The most satisfactory reflection of all is that the rascall has had his hiding, no imatter who did it,' said Maguire. "ZSo one in the county is sorry (that Sullivan got his ibeauty spoilt. He is a pig buyer in a small 'way, and I know for certain that he is a money lender also on a small scele--that is to say, his loans are on a small scale, but aiot his interest. Yon hit the nail on the (head when you treated him as responsible for the whole business." I don't know about the 'nail, said Aindie. In the absence of the nail you were safe in. at Sullivan's," Baid St. Maux. The story of his licking will be all over the ocramttf" by this evening," said Maguire. "I doubil if the place wouldn't be made too hot to hoid him, even if yoai hadn't, bound him down to dear off without delay." Of course, it is not to be thought. of for a moment thai, Mr. Mahony would have any Byirtpathy "with those idiots who visited me to avenge the wrong I he done to him in buy- tog the OastLe from the people to whom he had mortgaged it," said Ainlie. He's a bit sore a/bout the sale of the old place, as you can, easily understand," said Magmire, "bmt yam may be perfectly certain that he would be stronger than, any man in the county in has aixuse of Sullivan and his gang for their outrage. I dmlt say, mind, that he doesn't look on you as an interloper; and I certainly wouldn't suggest that you need expect him to aak you to dinner all at once; but you may be sure that any resentment be may feed will stop there." But why should he bear any resentment against me?" asked "The place was bound to be sold, and why should the buyer be though,t an iiutecrloper? If you sail a dog- cart you don't have your back set up against the oha/p who buys it." I'm afraid tlbafc t-he Irish aire a bait UIIl- reaHonai*10 in tfoe master of tihe ssa.1e off their ajnoeetr»l bomes," said iMaguire. I suppose it is thai, all the confiscations of the past, canted by an ob-bging figure of speech 1 -n *setti<imeoits,' produced such an impression trpon the people tibait their descendants have oooae to lfíbink of a simple act of purchase of Property, Wben lit emfcaite the removal of a fajBily, 9* a. oonifV wia^axm. Mr. Mjaihonar is, I know a lataft touchy oax tale subject of ttoe tariecloc5U're OIl the He eeems to tlbink that the uisaraaioe ootmpamy who had tbam should have let them run on indefi- nitely without the payment of the interest." Poor old chapi Maybe be has had a large a.Dd expensive family," said St. Maur. He has a sou and daughter only; the exk;WW-O of the former was enough to account for the non-payment, of the mort- gage interest for a good many years," said Maguire. "He was one of those mosit hope- less peroorna-the man whose worst enemy te himself. What between the racehorses of the father and the senseless extravagance Of the soil, the marvel is that anything Whatever is left for the girl to live on." I suppose they left the neighbourhood "When the crash came," said Ainlie. Oh, dear, no!" replied Maguire. Mr. Mahony and his daughter live in a pic- turesque cottage at the head of the lough; the son. is, I believe, in Canada, and begin- thing to do yery well for himself, now that he has no one to supply him with ready cash. It would be a lonely- enough life for the girl were she not so great a friend of tihe Wellazide. &be occasionally pays them long visits, and they take her about." Do you mean the Wellands of Under- cliffe, in Dorset?" asked Ainlie. The same. They have been very kind to bA-z. I daresay you have come aoroeB them in London," sadd Maguire. I have met them several times. The last time was at Banelagh.' They had a party ait a table next to mine one Sunday last May," said Ainlie. The conversation then drifted into other topics, such as the likelihood of the birds turning out wild, and the possibility of the Bahnon river remaining unpoached for another month. But when his visitors had taken their departure, Harry Ainlie became thoughtful for some tdme, sitting in a chair at one of the windows in the Castle that commanded a magnificent view of the moun- tains that surrounded the still lake—of the distant lough with its splendid cliffs rising almost sheer from the water, which reflected -tbaugh. Ainlie was too far away to be e.ware of this-every peak and headland out to the Atlantic. It would have seemed to anyone wtho had seen him that he had fallen into a reverie over the Irish question, or some equally insoluble problem, so abstracted had he become while letting his eyes roam through all the wonders of the landscape. But no one was present to see him. St. Maur had gone off with the police officer to the village to interview an old man who had the reputation for making- a salmon fly that was practically irresistible 'to the fish in the river in the autumn so that no one saw how Ainlie had tiuriv-. to the solution of whatever sawh^L n&d in his mind; and no paying, lumped from his seat at last, "It would be .t.i The WellandsT^PpssiWe-quite impossible. they drive them by the 800rP- aI2td Eanelagh. I have Sunday- to dozen times. What J'h^ there half a because ■ • Well, if thmk that what would happen? Ah. --what would happen? QkrS )Vell, I'll jolly soon come to all there *8 to be known about the matter." He lit a fresh cig-ar, and his thouglhlts went back once more to the Sunday when, heh d dined at Ranelagh three months before. He had h;ad a small party with him, but a larger party was at the table next to his Wellands were well-known society People, who were invariably to be found taking pa.rt in any function that was really 'ashioua-ble. They were said to be enor- mously wealthy, and thus no one who knew anything was surprised when the heads of "tain great historic families "took them the duchesses—unless those who came the United States—have always shown themselves very liberal-minded in the J&atter of taking up young woanen whose withers esteem it a privilege to pay their Bridge debts, and it was rumoured that the Welleaid girls paid their gambling debts in "-QAsh, and, what was considered bettefr still, 'did not insist on the duchesses whom they visited doing the same. These were the people who had a party beside him on that fine Sunday in May, and ong the women portion there was a girl !*ho had attracted him greatly, not merely ij^oause she contrasted so greatly with the Wei land girls, who were quite commonplace, but because her face represented an ideal about which he had dreamed in his boy- hood, and to which he had been faithful ever since. She had dark hair, and the very darkest eyes be had ever seen, but they were not fiercely dark, like the eyes of a Spanish woman; they were, he thought, mournfully dark, with long lasihes. Her face had, indeed, more than a suggestion of mourn ful- ness in its expression, but occasionally it became illuminated, and for a short space it was even merry. He tihought he liked it leasfc at such times, though it was still more beantiful than any face he had seen. -Now, as he remained seated at the window of his Castle, he recalled how he had been so absorbed through watching that girl that he had become almostt, neglectful of the guests at his own table, and one of them--& lady-lia,d made a happy little jest of it. This had caused him to pull himself totgether for the rest, of the dinner; but he had not forgotten to follow the girl with his eyes when she rose with her friends and went outside to hear the band play. He had noticed that she was tall a.nd slender, thougii scarcely what one would call thin. Her figure was exquisite, and she moved like L% Young goddess, gracefully and easily. Thp lady beside him at his table had said, What a beautiful creature! I wonder where the Wellands picked her up." Someone else at the table mentioned that she was no newly-made discovery. She had been several times in their company during the season, and once at Prince's in the winter. Of course, he pretended to be only lan- guidly interested in the girl, and the con- \ersa.tion drifted off to such commonplace topics as the coming polo match and the Eton and Harrow crieket. But Ainlie had felt so greatly interested in the girl whom he had seen that he had in a confidential moment told his friend, Algy St. Maur, about her, and his friend had accepted his confidence in the usual spirit in which such confessions are received. He had Whistled like a starling, and had quoted (incor- rectly) a line or two of Byron; he bade Ainlie to choeir up; he even went so far as to promise to find out from one of the Wel- lands who this special girl was who bad been dinim,g with them at Banelagh- but when Ainlie asked him a fortnight later if he nad done so he found that St. Maair bad forgotten all about the matter. T,h'e.n ,lt so happened that Welland petre had died, and his family, of course, were in seclusion for the remainder of the season, so that St. Maur, even if he had remembered his promise, had no opportunity of keeping And now Harry Ainlie Slat by his window wondering if it could be possible that the daughter of the late owner of R<a £ hdea,rg Castle was the girl whoon he had seen during that memorable dian,er at Banelagh—tihe girl who nuigint Otfton have sat in the window where he sat, looking out upon the same landscape. The oonolueroms to which, he came, after giving the matter all his attention, were, first, tibat he was oertataly in love with that girl, and, seooimLly, tihat it was ridicu- lous to suppose that she should be identical wiitlh the diamghter of Mr. Maihioiny. The Wetlands had scores of girts staying with them im the course of a year; amd why sihouM he be foofflsii enough even to con- sider the possibility of the girl being Mis; Mahony? Miagudre, in referring to Mim Mahotay, had said nothing about her being beautiful; now, sufraly, if the on* on whom his thoughts were dwelling, the agc¡wt WOtÛ-d have s::Lid a;t least a word in praaea of her beaurty. He felt quite sentimentoi'lly mournful for a while over this oonoluaon, and he failed to crheer himself by the reflsetion tiha/t it was just as well that the young woana-n were not the same. Where should he be, he asked himself, if the girl of whoon he was tivinik- iDlg, and C'f whoun. itue felt he would jaever oease to fchiuk, tunned out to be the daughtesr of the (man woo bore a grudge againerf. him for having porohaeed the Castle? Yes, it was jUlOtt as wkII that the girls were soparate and distinct pcraoms. And then be I.aughe-d, thinking how amusing A would be if he were to find out that. the daughter of Mr. Mahorfy was a young lady of tlhirty-five or fouty enmumierB, witih ftaor- mxms foot 4bnd tha-n-ds, and. a fierore made to ZJJJa,tah He was still smiliDg when St. Malux re- turned. He had had a long etmll, he mid, to the villa,ge of ^^earg, and he had loiimd the man who made the celebrated aakrwm flies to be a. most interesting old fellow, with no end of stories of the height ^rh^teg-€llid8 of the Castle and legends tlmt a/f AiTL']ie aware, he asked, that he had puraha^cd with the Castle one of the active and faithful banshees known to fwme? Well, it was a faot. There were num- bers of excellent witnesses still alive who were ready to testify to the accuracy of the banshees warnings. Her wail had been heard T ^^L fatJlcr b&d died, and so it had been when any misfortune was aobut to fall on the family. to fall on the family. For instance, the purchase of the amces- trial home by a miserable Saxon with same money. suggested Ainlie. WeAl, she was heard to wail when the mortgages ftorecloeed," said St. Manr. "T suppose the bamshee goes with the pro- perity. We shall train her to wail for m juBt siie did for the ocrigdnal inhabitants." Ainlie. "Hang it all, man, yon don't buy a ten^ee as you woudd a watch-dog," said St. "I suppose not," said Ainlie. "Did von hear anything more of local interest?" Oh, yes; there is the legend fthe L-Ough," replied St. Maur. "I feel mo in the position of the operait-ic tenor coming forwajrc to the footl^hte to sing the Leg^ of the Lough, while the or-aheetaa makpa weird music and the violins go pizzicato. What ms the name of the Johnnie in 'Lohen- grin' who does something of the sort?,, hi* «« I fancy you are right. Never mind. The \!hm r,<xf+Jx>Ul8fl? according to Mr. Muldoon, the ealmon-fly maker, is as fol- that s the orchestra playing the prelude." Your imitation is marvellous! I faaucy that I hear Covent Giarden at its best." "lou c-an-wi-th imagination. Well, it h,ap,pen,ad albout a thousand years ago, more or less, when Ireland was the most highly civilised place in the world. Yes, it must have been quite a thousand years ago. Thare were princes in the land in those days and a castle or two. There was one here where this modern structure—it's only six hundred years old, Muldoon, says- stands at present; and another was built to command the one landing-place at the end thei £ T^°asrl1'- tor- 'a-c^ding to Muldoon, piracv off a trade done in puacy off the West Coast," linear iT!S,tlayT Ln Waitf fOT Atlantic a modern JgL that could make a ni,> h knew hie business boarding an Ate* r for bi™seif by New York with a clL T comrm« from "And you would suggest Th ^^f8' your Castle for the 8 *u™has* of against the victorious hordes' J™*? anySing"y°Ur WOttld cam^io •• Periiaps I am over ■ rMr nc„d. ^2, G £ £ Zo ?" come iQ- •'He came m at the head of hie clan who lived more or leas precariously in County Ga.lway, aud he landed at the end of Loueh Gharrib one line niglit, -d made an attemnt to take the Castle by storm, it seems that his clan had an anoient feud with the King of Mayo, and hoped to pay him out by cap- turing one stronghold after another. It so happened, however, that his first attempt was unfortunate. The garrison of the Castle on the cliffs above the lamdin^-pjace had their eyes open, and, seeing the galley of the young chief approaching, met him on the beach, and a brisk fight was the result. In spite of his impudence, which, of course, his friends and the bards who tell the taJe called bravery, he was taken, prisoner, and hes companions were driven back to their sihip, leaving the beach strewn with the bodies of the slain." There's not much that sounds &ttl-ti- in all this. I'd choose a lively musical comedy for preference any day." But I ve only given you the of the piece. The tenor hasn't had a chance yet, and what about the soprano?" That's just whart, I was asking myself. Well, they took the young desperado

NUN SUES A CONVENT.

fSNATCHER' DISAPPOINTED.

f OUR . - | I » SHORT STORIES.«…

LOIE CLAIR'S ROMANCE.1

DRUCE DIARY DISAPPEARS

" CURED IN A NIGHT."

TWO MILLIONS IN BULLION.

LAUGH & GROW FAT * .

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""i AT iTj BIGHTS BESE5VKD*