disturbed, and that the fatal tidings, which
had not yet reached her, should be withheld
until they might be communicated in
such a way as to soften as much as
possible the inevitable shock.

These last directions were acted upon
too scrupulously and too long; and,
indeed, I am satisfied that had the event
been communicated at once, however
terrible and overwhelming the shock
might have been, much of the bitterest
anguish, of sickening doubts, of harassing
suspense, would have been spared her,
and the first tempestuous burst of sorrow
having passed over, her chastened spirit
might have recovered its tone, and her life
have been spared. But the mistaken
kindness which concealed from her the
dreadful truth, instead of relieving her
mind of a burden which it could not support,
laid upon it a weight of horrible
fears and doubts as to the affection of
O'Mara, compared with which even the
certainty of his death would have been
tolerable.

One evening I had just seated myself
beside a cheerful turf fire, with that true
relish which a long cold ride through a