On raising his head they perceived that this fine
and patriarchal representative of the truthful integrity and simple
manners of a bygone class had passed into a life where neither age
nor care can oppress the spirit, and from whose enjoyment no fear of
separation can ever disturb it.
It is unnecessary to describe the sorrow which they felt. It must be
sufficient to say that seldom has grief for one so far advanced in
years been so sincere and deep. Age, joined to the knowledge of his
affectionate heart and many virtues, had encircled him with a halo of
love and pious veneration which caused his disappearance from among them
to be felt, as if a lamb of simple piety and unsullied truth had been
removed from their path for ever.
That, indeed, was a busy and a melancholy day with the M'Mahons; for,
in addition to the death of the old grandfather, they were obliged to
receive farewell visits to no end from their relations, neighbors, and
acquaintances. Indeed it would be difficult to find a family in a state
of greater distress and sorrow. The auction, of course, was postponed
for a week--that is, until after the old man's funeral--and the
consequence was that circumstances, affecting the fate of our _dramatis
personae_ had time to be developed, which would otherwise have occurred
too late to be available for the purposes of our narrative.
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