"
"Kathleen," whispered her sister, "will you come out, darlin'? this talk
must be painful to you."
Kathleen gave her a look of much mingled sorrow and entreaty as went to
her heart. Hanna, whose head had been lovingly reclining on her sister's
bosom, pressed her gently but affectionately to her heart, and made no
reply.
"You wor always a friend of his," replied Mrs. Cavanagh, "an' of course
you spake as a friend."
"Yes," said Finigan, "I always was a friend of his, because I always
knew his honesty, his love of truth, his hatred of a mane action, ay,
and his generosity and courage. I knew him from the very egg, I may
say--_ab ovo_--Mrs. Cavanagh; it was I instilled his first principles into
him. Oh! I know well! I never had a scholar I was so proud out of.
Hycy Burke was smart, quick, and cunning; but then he was
traicherous--something of a coward when he had his match--strongly
addicted to fiction in most of his narratives, and what was still a
worse point about him, he had the infamous ingenuity, whenever he had a
point to gain--such as belying a boy and taking away his characther--of
making truth discharge all the blackguard duties of falsehoood. Oh! I
know them both well! But who among all I ever enlightened wid
instruction was the boy that always tould the truth, even when it went
against himself?--why, Bryan M'Mahon.
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