The Black Prophet: A Tale Of Irish Famine

mmanded a prospect of singular beauty. This hill was one of a range that ran from north to southwest; but in consequence of its standing, as it were, somewhat out of the ran

g the glen, was met by a rapid torrent that came down from the gloomy mountains that rose to the left. The foot of this hill, which on the southern side was green and fertile to the top, stretched off and was lost in the rich land that formed the great and magnificent vall

hill or knob that rose beside it, looked round in every direction, as if anxious to catch a glimpse of some one whom she expected. It appeared, however, that she watched in vain; for after having examined the country in every direction with an eye in which might be read a c

spot marked by a character of such utter solitude and gloom. Naturally barren, it bore not a single shrub on which a bird could sit or a beast browse, and little, of course, was to be seen in it but the bare gigantic projections of rock which shot out of its steep sides in wild and uncouth shapes, or the grey, rugged expanses of which it was principally composed. Indeed, we feel it difficult to say whether the gloom of winter or the summer's heat fell upon it with an air of lonelier desolation. It matter

life and death. For this latter murder a man named Dalton had been taken up, under circumstances of great suspicion, he having been the last person seen in the man's company. Both had been drinking together in the market, a quarrel had originated between them about money matters, blows had been exchanged, and Dalton was heard to threaten him in very strong language. Nor was this all. He had been observed following or rather dogging him on his way home, and although the same road certainly led to the residence of both, yet when his words and manner were taken into consideration, added to the more positive proof that the footmarks left on the place of struggle exactly corresponded with his shoes, there could be little doubt that he was privy to Sullivan's murder and disappearance, as well probably as to his robbery. At all

The ivory itself was not more white nor glossy than her skin; her teeth were-bright and beautiful, and her mouth a perfect rosebud. It is unnecessary to say that her eyes we're black and brilliant, for such ever belong to her complexion and temperament; but it in necessary to add, that they were piercing and unsettled, and you felt that they looked into you rather than at yo

aps of suffering-as if some secret care lay brooding at her heart. The inside of the hovel itself had every mark of poverty and destitution about it. Two or three stools, a pot or two, one miserable standing bed, and a smaller one gathered up under a rug in the corner, were almost all that met the eye on entering it; and simple as these meagre portions of furniture were, they bore no m

p-mother, as she entered, "you're come back at

see you're in one of your tantrums, Sally, my lady. What's wrong,

I, sittin', or running out an' in, these two hours, when I ought to be at the dance in Kilnahushogue

o do so. I'm beginnin' to got ould an' stiff,

, an' oulder may you never be,

lk to me in that way?" s

I am able an' willin' to give blow for blow at last, than

wever, during which the brief but vehement expression of rising fury passed from her countenance, and h

is coorse, or something nearly as bad, before you. Oh! go to the wake as soon as you like, an' to the dance, too. Find some one that'll take you off of my hands; that'll put a house over your head-give you a bit to ait, an' a rag to put on you; an' may God pity him that's doomed to get you! If the woeful state of the country, an' t

d even if it was, you stand in need of it yourself more than I do. You're beginning to praich to us now that you're not able

for the powerful strength of the elder female soon told. Sarah, however, quickly disengaged herself, and seizing an old knife which lay on a shell that served as a dresser, she made a s

w-you have it! Call on God's pity no

ist, found all her strength-and it was great-scarcely a match for the murderous ferocity which was now awakened in her. The grapple between them consequently became furious; and such was the terrible impress of diabolical malignity which passion stamped upon the features of this young tigress, that her step-mother's heart, for a moment quailed on beholding it, especially when associated with the surprising activity and strength which she put forth., Her dark and finely-pencilled eye-brows were fiercely knit, as it were, into one dark line; her lips were drawn back, displaying her beautiful teeth, that

vailed, she wrested the knife out of Sarah's hands and, almost at the same moment, stumbled and fell. The

n'. I'll hug you, mother, dear; ay will I, and kiss you too, an' lave my mark behind me!

ou mane, you bloody devil? It is going to tear my flesh with your teeth yo

taste your blood for all that!" and, as the words were uttered, the step-mother gave a sud

ng towards the door, exclaimed with

e tasted-your blood, an' I like it-ha, ha, ha!-an' if as you say it's kind father for me to be fond o' blood, I say you had better take care of yourself. And I tell you more: we'll take care of y

n with rain-she washed the blood from her hands and face with an apparently light heart. Having meditated

killed her now, throth it 'ud be a good joke, an' all in a fit of passion, bekase she didn't come home in time t

hut, perceived that the ear and cheek

. "Forgive me, mother; you know I'm a hasty devil-for a devil's limb I am, no d

d beauty. By stretching herself up to her full length, she succeeded in pulling down several old cobwebs that had been for years in the corner of the wall; and in the act of doing

an that be for? Well, devil may care! let it lie on the shelf there. Here now-none of your cross looks, I say-put these cobwebs to your face, an' they'll stop the bleedin'. Ha, ha, ha!-well-ha, ha, ha!-but you are a sight to fall in love wid this minute!" she exclaimed, laughing heartily at the b

urted a farm

ageous to the i

mirth, laughter, and extraordinary buoyancy of spirits could be depended on, that she was gifted

that, if they were to live, as heretofore, under the same roof, their life would be one of perpetual strife-perhaps of ultimate bloodshed-and that these domestic brawls might unhappily terminate in the death of either. She felt that her own temper was none of the best, and knew that so long as she was incapable of restraining it, or maintaining her coolness under the prov

from this out, espeshially now that she's got the upper hand of me. Yet what else can I expect or desarve? This load that is on my conscience is worse. Night and day I'm sufferin' in the sight of God, an' actin' as if I wasn't to be brought in judgment afore him. What am I to do? I wish I was in my

e door a moment, and, resuming her

eshially when he only laughs in his sleeve at the people for believin' him; but what's that about poor Gra Gal Sullivan? She threatened her, and spoke of her father, too, as bein' in it. Ah, ah! I must watch him there; an' you, too, my lady divil-for it 'ill go hard wid me if either

ah had, in such an accidental manner, tumbled out of the wall, and surveying it f

oken hinge and the two letthers. The Lord forgive me my sins!-for I see now that do what we may, or hide it as we like, God is above all!

ossible to suspect, by any apparent disturbance of the roof, that it was there; after which, she sat down with sensations of dread that were new to he