They then walked to some distance, where they remained until the “narrow house” was nearly filled, after which they once more surrounded it until the last sod was beaten in. This being over, the sorrowing group sought their way home with breaking hearts, leaving behind them her whom they had loved so well reposing in the cold and unbroken solitude of the grave.
CHAPTER XIV.—Mysterious Letter
—Hycy Disclaims Sobriety—Ahadarra's in for it.
One day about a month after Mrs. M'Mahon's funeral, Harry Clinton was on his way to Jemmy Burke's, when he met Nanny Peety going towards Ballymacan.
“Well, Nanny,” he inquired, “where are you bound for, now?”
“To the post-office with a letter from Masther Hycy, sir. I wanted him to tell me who it was for, but he would not. Will you, Mr. Clinton?” and she held out the letter to him as she spoke.
Clinton felt a good deal surprised to see that it was addressed to his uncle, and also written in a hand which he did not recognize to be that of Hycy Burke.
“Are you sure, Nanny,” he asked, “that this letter was written by Mr. Hycy?”
“Didn't I see him, sir?” she replied; “he wrote it before my eyes a minute before he handed it to me. Who is it for, Mr. Clinton?”