Bryan and his companions, ere they had time to reach the house, were
seen and. recognized by the family, who, from the restlessness and
uncertainty which illness usually occasions, kept moving about and
running out from time to time to watch the arrival of the priest or
doctor. On this occasion Dora came to meet them; but, alas! with what
a different spirit from that which animated her on the return of her
father from the metropolis. Her gait was now slow, her step languid;
and they could perceive that, as she approached them, she wiped away the
tears. Indeed her whole appearance was indicative of the state of
her mother; when they met her, her bitter sobbing and the sorrowful
earnestness of manner with which she embraced the sisters, wore
melancholy assurances that the condition of the sufferer was not
improved. Hanna joined her tears with hers; but Kathleen, whose sweet
voice in attempting to give the affectionate girl consolation, was more
than once almost shaken out of its firmness, did all she could to soothe
and relieve her.
On entering the house, they found a number of the neighboring females
assembled, and indeed the whole family, in consequence of the alarm
and agitation visible them, might not inaptly be compared to a brood of
domestic fowl when a hawk, bent on destruction, is seen hovering over
their heads.
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