were imprinted by God's own handywork, and once more bade her and her mother good night. "Bless my heart and soul!" exclaimed the alderman, when the hall door had closed upon him-"I am surprised and astonished; what a stupid man I have been, never to have mentioned a word of the business I called about. Bob Coates will never forgive me. But stay.By Jove, I have it; I have left my umbrella behind me, and I'll just step back for it, and mention the matter." Oh, the deceitfulness of the human heart! He was only anxious to feast his eyes with one more glance at the lovely widow; yet he would cozen himself into the belief that he wanted to return for the purpose of falling out with her. So strong was his desire to see her once more, that his hand was on the point of raising the knocker, when wiser thoughts possessed him." No," said he, "it's too late, now; I'll return for my umbrella to-morrow." And the alderman bent his footsteps towards home. "Well, I suppose you've settled all that," remarked young Elliott to his father, as he opened the hall door to admit him; for he was aware of the visit he had made, and the object of it. "Yes, I've been at Mrs. Lonergan's till now," returned the alderman; "and I've settled everything." "You were a very long time about it," observed the young man, drily; but his father, not thinking it worth while to reply, went up straightway to bed. CHAPTER VI. "Marriage is a matter of more worth, For what is wedlock forced but a hell, THE evening following the events just treated of, Mrs. Lonergan received a visit from her spiritual adviser, Father O'Flynn. There was a frown upon his brow, and the widow trembled; for her practised eye assured her that this mark of displeasure portended an outburst of wrath she knew not how to cope with or endure. Returning her welcome with a cool and scanty greeting, the doctor took a chair in silence, while his stifled breathing more eloquently than words confirmed the lady's apprehensions. "And so, I find, you haven't yet put a stop to the intercourse between your daughter and that heretic young man opposite," said he, entering at once upon the object of his visit, and looking sternly at the widow, who, confident that he was aware of Alderman Elliott's visit of the previous evening, almost lost the use of speech with terror, and did not attempt a reply; for such inti macy with a person of Elliott's principles would be condemned, she knew, by his reverence as an unpardonable crime. "I have it," continued the doctor, in allusion to the lovers, "that it's at the play they were not three weeks ago, and that they have since been seen constantly together. Who my informant is I really do not know, for he modestly withholds his name from the letters he sends me; but, whoever he is, there can be no doubt he is a good Catholic, and a great deal more anxious for the honour of your family than you are yourself, Mrs. Lonergan." "I am sure I have done everything in my power to dissuade Kate from associating with young Mr. Elliott," returned the widow, dissolving into tears, which should have melted the heart of his reverence, but did not. "I have lectured her, and scolded her, and—and she's a disobedient girl." "Where is Catherine now?" asked the doctor, unheeding the widow's tribulation. "I don't know, indeed," she returned, applying her handkerchief to her eyes. "Of course you don't," rejoined his reverence, sarcastically; "but maybe others know. What would you think, Ma'am, if you heard that your daughter has just been seen in company with the young man I speak of, and they walking arm-in-arm together, no less? You're a pretty sample of a pious Catholic, Mrs. Lonergan !" To these taunts the widow did not reply; and there is no doubt the doctor would have administered some further reproofs of a more severe and cutting nature, had not Catherine herself arrived upon the scene, and diverted his wrath from her mother to herself. She had just returned from a walk with her lover in the suburbs, and the fresh air and exercise had lent a bloom to her face that rendered her the very impersonation of youth, health, and loveliness. "Come here, girl," said the doctor, relaxing none of his severity. "Answer me now, without fencing or evasion,-have you, or have you not, been in company with that heretic youth opposite ?" 66 Young Mr. Elliott, you mean?" asked Catherine, with coolness; for there was an acerbity in the doctor's tone that roused her courage, and determined her not to submit to him with tameness. "Yes, I do," returned the doctor, sharply. "Why, Sir, we have only just parted," returned Kate, with a candour that quite disconcerted her questioner; and, throwing herself into a seat, she removed her bonnet, allowing a cluster of rich dark hair to flow in luxurious abundance around her rosy face, from whence a pair of bright eyes surveyed his reverence with an archness that would have rendered her an admirable study for a painter. Then, arising from her seat, she added— "And look, Sir, at the beautiful bouquet he has given me," and she placed the flowers beneath his reverence's nose. "Faugh! take them away," said the doctor, "they smell of "Roses," said Catherine, completing the sentence, and placing the flowers in her bosom. "Girl!" continued the doctor, with solemnity, but with less of his former severity, "you are entering upon the broad road that leads all who journey by it to destruction. Remember that they who do not hearken to the warning voice of the Church disregard the injunctions of Heaven. You must give up this young man, or he'll pervert and corrupt you, and lead you a wanderer from the fold, so that you'll find yourself at last forsaken by God, and neglected by the world. You must neither walk with him, nor hold converse with him." "I am sure I can see no harm in walking with him, nor in talking to him either," returned Kate, quickly, while a flush of anger mounting to her face marred for the instant all its sweetness and serenity. The transition was but momentary; for, remembering the respect due to the doctor's character and calling, and conscious also of the goodness of his intentions, all feelings of resentment vanished; while the thought that it was ungrateful and unmaidenly to harbour angry feelings towards him, caused a blush to mantle to her cheeks, that suf fused her face and neck with crimson. "Harm!" exclaimed the doctor, throwing up the whites of his eyes in horror, and quite unconscious of the feelings that pervaded his young friend's bosom. "No, child; nor there's no harm in walking with Satan, if you don't go home with him, and do as he prompts you. Harm! Why, child, admitting you remained faithful to the Church, which is exceedingly problematical, only imagine yourself the wife of this young here |