The morning star and Catholic messenger., 1878-08-11

felt like the heroine Of one Of her old foolisH
Whiteoiiae dreams, when, after watching
| hill. she looked round on the solitary scene
| with o little shrill tsat had inst enough feaI
to make it exciting. Pelham had passed
| died to q black spot in t1e green valley at bel
feet. Round her on all sides, were solitary
hill slopes, overlooked by dark solemn moan
| ing high in the air over her head, whiriipg in
| great carves, and posing as il it were a6ou t
TO swocp down upon her. An eaglef Yes, il
must be one Of the eagles Ellen had told her
of that had their eyry on Lao na-Weel, and
! swooped down for prey on the little islands in
the lonely lakes. The thought ade Lesbia q
| the wide wings took the black lowering body
mp, up, till it looked hardly bigger than @ lar
| in the blue sky. Then she settled herself with
her elbows on her knees aud her chin bet ween
her hands. to wait aud think, and forbid her
self to grow frightened at her loneliness. Sac
had pleasant sense OF sSif-importauce to
| counteract the solemnity of the scene, which
might otherwise have bsen oppressive, for lad
net one sdmirer just left her with q sufi cient {
show of reluctance, and did not this adven-
ture promise tidiDgs of that other lover who,
| satisfy anybody Had she ever, in the old
stocking g-darniDg days at Whitecliffs-before
she had ever seen any body in particular, when
the day-dreams were woven in and ont TO suit
the fancies of the moment-invented any be-
ginning of q story for herself more gratify fying
to seff-iove than this Wss she not now
act aally acting out her own longingsf Ba-
bette heaved q great sigh as the Q uestion rose
in her mipd-a sigh that was a tt stimony to
the pleassntness of the old dreams. and to the
much paler cniors in which reality was paint
not What she thought it would be. She had
not imsgined it all round. TIE dream.people
who loved her gratified her vanity, and that
was. was all: H., They never pOzzled her, or
said awoke in her heart that trouble
some yearning sympathy Sd much nearer pain
than joy, that she was ready to wish it away
even while she watched for the words and the
looks that brought it. In her dreams it would
have been to the eager, outspoken, gay t..
pered lover she would have given her prefer
ence. She should never have imagined it of
herself that her thoughts would turn back and
back, not to the pleasant t cry of which she
could always nave as much rs she pleased,
but 10 few przzipg, he.itatiDg gradgipgly
spoken words, brimtul of feeling, which seem
ed always to call on her tor deeper response
than she was ready to make. In real life she
found it wss not to be all taking; there was a
troublesome call for giving whicn threatened
to draw her out of her old self centered exist
ence into region cf 1ought and emo ton she
had not meant to come near for q long time
yet. Dreaming was much easier Why could
she not choose the fatterin9 homage that put
her back into shadow land, and did not offer
or exact any troublesome amount of feeling on
either sidef Lesbia grew SO absorbed in her
self-debate, which did not really come in set
phraSee, butin vague suggestior rs, hard to catch
and hx into any shape of words, that she did
not perceive how long the time of E1ien's ab-
seucs was. Neither did she notice that for
some minutes past the red heifer's back had
ceased 10 be the only conspicuous object be-
bind the stone wall, being overtopped by a tall,
head wit black cloak, which, after regaripg
her deliberately for come time from behind
that fortress, began gradually to draw into
closer and closer neighorhood TO herself.
CHAPTER XVIII.
Oh TO have lived like Irish chief when hea, were
fresh and true,
Ana Insniy thought. like pealipg bell would quick
en- them through and throu gh:
And the seed OF generous hope rghs soon to fiery
And men wdpld have ecoIped to talk and talk, and
The low singing which had attracted Ellen's
atteut on had ceased by the time she had &C.
comptished her descent into the hollow be- |
hind the hill, aud come in view of the turf
sned, whose green roof was so exactly like the
ground above to make its neigh borh0od un- |
suspected tillaeep from beloK Sle had apoken |
the truth to Lesbia when she said she expect- |
ed to find Murdock Malachy in the cave, for |
from the top of the hill she had observed that |
he did not folio W the road TO the hollow, and |
she had little doubt that this secret rendezvous
in the hills was his real destination. But it |
was more exciting hope than that ef getting
Information of Connor's movements from him
that induced ber to get rid of her companions
and venture on visit to the mountain cave.
She was on the look out for signals, and in the
mu I'll I'd sounds that seemed to come from the
depth of the earth, she had caught note or
a song that used to be a watch word between
herself and Connor when they played at
brigands and rebels in their childish days.
AL was still, however, when she reached the
door of the dilapidated cabin that covered the
opening into cave, and sbe pausad moment,
half afraid to enter. There were marks of mems
feet-on he wet ground round
the door, and thin cloud of peat smoke was
oozing through its crevioes!' Tnere might be
more than one or 70 people withiI-iare she
knock
Again the song broke out in q sweet rich
voice and accent too refined for Murdoch
Malachys.
Yes, it was Connor's signal. She knocked
gently there was short delay as if some
bsrricades were being removed the door was
opened a little way, and she heard Murdock's
voice exclaiming joyfully, It's Miss Eileen
herself, sir" and then she stepped across the
and Murdock shut the door quickly
behind her. She found herself in a low shed,
having at lis end dark chamber that ran for
some dist lnce under the hill Light poured in
dusky streaks from the crevices in the roof,
and between the loose stones of which the
W ails were built, struggling with the smoke of
the beat fire that burned dimly in the lower
chamber and filled the place with a hewider-
in q blue hpZs In the centre was a able COM |