"
"No, mother, see him I will not, in that sense--Bryan M'Mahon a traitor!
Am I a dreamer? I am not asleep, and Bryan M'Mahon is false to God and
his country! I did think that he would give his life for both, if he was
called upon to do so; but not that he would prove false to them as he
has done."
"He has, indeed," said her father, "and the very person you hate so
much, bad as you think him, did all in his power to prevent him from
doin' the black deed. I seen that, too, and h'ard it. Hycy persuaded him
as much as he could against it; but he wouldn't listen to him, nor pay
him any attention."
"Kathleen," said her sister, "the angels in heaven fell, and surely it
isn't wonderful that even a good man should be tempted and fall from the
truth as they did?"
Kathleen seemed too much abstracted by her distress to hear this.
She looked around at them all, one after another, and said in a low,
composed, and solemn voice, "All is over now between that young man and
me--and here is one request which I earnestly entreat you--every one of
you--to comply with."
"What is it darling?" said her mother.
"It is," she replied, "never in my hearing to mention his name while I
live. As for myself, I will never name him!"
"And think, after all," observed her father, "of poor Hycy bein' true to
his religion!"
It would seem that her heart was struggling to fling the image of
M'Mahon from it, but without effect.
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