Much more conversation of a similar kind passed between them upon various topics connected with their profligacy and crimes. At length they separated for the night, after having concerted their plan of action for the ensuing scrutiny.
The next morning, before the hour appointed arrived, the parish, particularly the neighborhood of Carnmore, was struck with deep consternation. Labor became suspended, mirth disappeared, and every face was marked with paleness, anxiety, and apprehension. If two men met, one shook his head mysteriously, and inquired from the other, “Did you hear the news?”
“Ay! ay! the Lord be about us all, I did! an' I pray God that it may lave the counthry as it came to it!”
“Oh, an' that it may, I humbly make supplication this day!”
If two women met, it was with similar mystery and fear. “Vread, (* Margaret) do you know what's at the Cassidys'?”
“Whisht, ahagur, I do; but let what will happen, sure it's best for us to say nothin'.”
“Say! the blessed Virgin forbid! I'd cut my hand off o' me, afore I'd spake a word about it; only that—”
“Whisht! woman—for mercy's sake—don't——”
And so they would separate, each crossing herself devoutly.
The meeting at Cassidy's was to take place that day at twelve o'clock; but, about two hours before the appointed time, Anne, who had been in some of the other houses, came into her father's, quite pale, breathless and trembling.