“Well, we are young, you know, and neither of us proud—­and I am not a lazy girl—­indeed, I am not; but you forget the good news.”

“I forget that, and everything else but yourself, darling, while I’m in your company.  O heavens! if you were once my own, and that we were never to be separated!”

“Well, but the good news!”

“What is it, dear?”

“I haye mentioned our affection to my brother, and he has promised to assist us.  He has heard of your character, and of your mother’s, and says that it’s unjust to visit upon you——­”

She paused—­“You know, my dear Connor, that you must not be offended with anything I say.”

“I know, my sweet treasure, what you’re going to say,” replied Connor, with a smile; “nobody need be delicate in saying that my father loves the money, and knows how to put guinea to guinea; that’s no secret.  I wish he loved it less, to be sure, but it cannot be helped; in the mean time, ma colleen dhas dhun—­O, how I love them words!  God bless your brother! he must have a kind heart, Una dear, and he must love you very much when he promises to assist us.”

“He has, and will; but, Connor, why did you send such a disagreeable, forward, and prying person, as your father’s servant to bring me your message?  I do not like him—­he almost stared me out of countenance.”

“Poor fellow,” said Connor, “I feel a good dale for him, and I think he’s an honest, good—­hearted boy, and besides, he’s in love himself.”

“I know he, was always a starer, and I say again I don’t like him.”

“But, as the case stands, dear Una, I have no one else to trust to—­at all events, he’s in our secret, and the best way, if he’s not honest, is to keep him in it; at laste, if we put him out of it now, he might be talking to our disadvantage.”

“There’s truth in that, and we must only trust him with as little of our real secrets as possible; I cannot account for the strong prejudice I feel against him, and have felt for the past two years.  He always dressed above his means, and once or twice attempted to speak to me.”

“Well, but I know he’s in love with some one, for he told me so; poor fellow, I’m bound, my dear Una, to show him any kindness in my power.”

After some further conversation, it was once more decided that Fardorougha should, on the next day, see the Bodagh and his wife, in order to ascertain whether their consent could be obtained to the union of our young and anxious lovers.  This step, as the reader knows, was every way in accordance with Fardorougha’s inclination.  Connor himself would have preferred his mother’s advocacy to that of a person possessing such a slender hold on their good-will as his other parent.  But upon consulting with her, she told him that the fact of the proposal coming from Fardorougha might imply a disposition on his part to provide for his son.  At all events, she hoped that contradiction, the boast