to Lord ----, as he could not with propriety
do so to Lady Emily; but what at
a distance appeared to be a matter of easy
accomplishment, now, upon a nearer
approach, and when the immediate impulse
which had prompted the act had subsided,
appeared so full of difficulty and almost
inextricable embarrassments, that he
involuntarily shrunk from the task day after
day.

Though it was a source of indescribable
anxiety to him, he did not venture to write
to Ellen, for he could not disguise from
himself the danger which the secrecy of
his connection with her must incur by his
communicating with her, even through a
public office, where their letters might be
permitted to lie longer than the gossiping
inquisitiveness of a country town would
warrant him in supposing safe.

It was about a fortnight after young
O'Mara had arrived in Dublin, where all
things, and places, and amusements; and
persons seemed thoroughly stale, flat, and
unprofitable, when one day, tempted by
the unusual fineness of the weather, Lady
Emily proposed a walk in the College
Park, a favourite promenade at that time.