The morning star and Catholic messenger., 1878-11-03

81 will never 60 back to Castle Daly unles
he is free to go there too if he likes. Ellen, i
| is not my house any more. don't feel as i
| had anything now bat the one thiDg-thst il
everything t. me- / am going to tell you
mother that she is to come tonight to he
own house, Y)u will feel that it ID hers, al,
yours, and his-not mine-won't you or
shall never .believe You love me-"
| CHAPTER xxx.
.Yoa're my friend
What thing friendship is worlo without end !"
| TnG FLGHC OF SHE DUCHESS
| Fonr days had passed since Lesbia's drive t,
| L Ige's Edge, and Ellen was again at the Hol
low Watching by Anne o'F'laheIty's sick bed
There had been a change for the worse in th
| invalids state, and it was now only at rare in
tervals that she could bear conversation O.
notice those around her. Elens time wal
sitting silent beside her, gazing at tho deal
| face that was beginning to take the appear
ance of an empty shell, from which the ami
mating spirit was gradually being withdrawn.
Ste had hardly any news of those she wat
| anxious about. Castle Daily and Eagles Edge
were both deserted. Mr.. Thornley, was in
| Dublin, and Lesbis and Mrs. DAILY were stay
ing at an hotel in Galway, seeing nothing OF
Pelham, and unable to get tidings of him, but
| preferring to wait Mr.. 1nornley's return in his
| neigh borhood than elsewhere. Murdock Mala.
| chy had my ysteriously disappeared from the
Hollow eince Ellen's last visit, and the house.
holds supply of letters and newspapers de.
pended on Peter Lynch's consenting to aban.
don for an hour or so his favorite seat on the
horse-block ia the stable yard, and going to
fetch them from Bafiyowen. 1t WAS difficult
! in these days to persuade him to stir from his
self,chosen post where, as he said, he was
ready to tske orders, " hen tie turn of the ILL.,
ness came and his mistress sert for him. He
had not seen Miss OFlaherty for fortnight,
he pleaded, when Ellen came from the sick
room to argue the point with him, and there
~onld be power OF things for bin to tell
her and consult her about when the strength
came back to ber all on suddint and sh Q
asked for him 1t would never do for him to
ho nnf 1f b. "A
when she wanted him again. Anxious as she
WAS for letters, Ellen had not the heart dur
ng these last days of watching to send Peter
away even Tor few honrF, 5eIrg as s6 did
how the old obstinate deter clins tion to be.
heve only what he chose was passing out of
his set wooden face, leaving it wan aud weak,
with an imploring, frightened look in the eyes
such as child tnrrs to dark room is fears
to be forced to enter. Hs might be wanted on
q sudden soon, though not for the csrs, he
expected, and Ellen Thooght he had ss much
of one more word. DR.. Lynch, too, had absent
ed himself, without sending any explaps tiou
of his absence. There seemed no avenue by
which tidings could come, any more than if
the little riSulet that surrounded the house,
whose bubblings and ripplings were the chief
disturbers of the unusual silence, had sudden
iy swelled into a wide ocean, cutting the
household eff from the rest of the world.
ct as the days crept by, vague apprehension
OF what was going outside idid oozs into
the valley, and reached even as far as the
watchers by Anne's dying-bed. There were
whispers repeated fron one to another, and
faces that had hitherto only worn an expires.
sion of anxiety expectation began
to look dark. At last, one day one
room with a face swollen with crying,
aud on inquiry it came ont that she had boea
to chapel in a distant village, and some one
had told her that Murdock Malachy had been
shot in fight there had been down in the
SOUTH. That was all Ellen heard for twenty
four anxious hours. Then all at once every body
was talking; even Peter Lynch's tongue was
loosed, and men ard women came up to the
Lodge from the valley. and from the solitary
farms among the hills, to tell the news, of
which the sir was full and question Miss
Eileen, if she could explain u.dings that
seemed to have STAINED them. It was all over.
Smith OBrien had been taken prisoner, and
there had been 70 fighting at all, oaly tn
multi in which one or tgo Of the bows hsd
been shot, aDn tbo rest had ru way, leaving
the leaders to tGke care of themselves.
ITO b. sare," Eilep's iuformauts generally
oonoladed, &" 5he priest were against it this
time, ano how would 1T prosperf The cause
was lost any how, and the police and Mr..
ORoone would have it all their own way in
the country, aud what would they do at all
Could Mss Eileen tell them, when Miss
J'Flaberty was dead, AID Mr.. Counor, and
every one that hoped for better times put out
of the wayf"
From these whispered con nfeyer cas Ellen tried
to gather at least the copsolng certainty that
there had b3en lit le bioodshCd, and sbe re-.
turned u her post by the sick BED to watch
for an interval OF conscousuess, when she
might fulfill her promise Of letting Annie
know all to the last. She would be able TO
joice heartily in tbis determination to ali her
fears, and would not share the blank surprise
and shame tie at troubled Ellen when she com.
pared the high expectations and purposes Of
which she had been told with this denouement,
and thought with b, tter grudging of the young
lives that had wrecked themselves in the mists
of 30 miserable delusion. On the evening of
the fifth day De- Lynch came into Anne's room
and proceeded to ask after her health and talk
to her nurses ss if there had been no break in
his visits. Anne opened her eyes at the sound
of his voice, and q look Of intelligence and
inquiry came back into her face
Have you anything to tell me ~ che asked
feebly.
Nothing at ALL" be answered in quiet,
matter-of fact tone, "but that there is bsttsr
end to all their folly than might have been ex-
pected; and thCss for whom you care most
are in no worse predicament than they were
week ago."
Anne looked Satisfied; bat when his business
in the sick room ended, DR.. Lynch beck
onod Ellen to follow him out of the room, and
dread sezed her that there was worse to hear
boY, ha bod al II