It is not our intention here to follow Gerald Cavanagh in the account,
unconsciously one sided as it was, of the consent which he assured them
Kathleen had given, on the night before, to marry their son Edward.
It is sufficient to say, that before they separated, the match was
absolutely made by the two worthies, and everything arranged, with, the
exception of the day of marriage, which they promised to determine on at
their next meeting.
CHAPTER XXIV.--Thoughts on Our Country and Our Countrymen
--Dora and Her Lover.
The state of the country, at this period of our narrative, was full
of gloom and depression. Spring had now set in, and the numbers of our
independent and most industrious countrymen that flocked towards our
great seaports were reckoned by many thousands; and this had been the
case for many a season previously. That something was wrong, and that
something is wrong in the country must, alas! be evident from the
myriad's who, whilst they have the means in their hands, are anxious to
get out of it as fast as they can. And yet there is not a country in the
world, a population so affectionately attached to the soil--to the place
of their birth--as the Irish. In fact, the love of their native fields,
their green meadows, the dark mountains, and the glorious torrents that
gush from them, is a passion of which they have in foreign lands
been often known to die.
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