Nora's Peril

CHAFTEU li. ACtcr breakfast tho ncxt morning Colonel Ue Burgho said, - "I shall be glad, Mr. Mervyn, if you cau place a day or two at ray disposal; I wish to consult you about my plana for the renovation oí my long-deserted castle, - tliat is to say, I have as yet really formed no plaus; what I rather meant to propose was that wc should inipect the premisos, and thc estáte, which Ís wry considerable in extent, and diseñas togetber the beat meaos of making the tormer habitable, and the latter more productivo. From the experience 1 have gathered duringmy foreigu residence, I am led to believe that inucli mtght be done to devclop its resources - that I think, is the correct phase. As regarda me building, it is BO vast that to repair the whole of it would bc an almost impossible task i'or a man of eveu the largest fortune to attempt; but a jndiclous selection may bc made, and as I now contémplate reeiding here for the remainder of mv Ufe, I cannot too eoon mature some plan, and partially earry it out, before the winter bete iu." I replied that nothing would gi "e me greatcr pleasure than toassist Mm in giviug effect to bis views, and that as I had travemd everj portion of tbc estáte, I could, I feit eoniidont. suggest Beveral ways of improving ics value, at no very considerable cost. ïhankingme for my compliance with liis request, Colonel De Burgho said: "Well, then, we will spend to-day in inspeeting the demesne attached to the castle; it is, or Wiis, some three thousand acres in extent, and my dircetions to my agent on leaving home were to keep it alwnys in Land, whieh liew.'itcs me hehas done, altbougb he has latterly pressed me to let off some portions whieh eould be protitably rented; and, by the way," said lic, "I may as well inform you at once'of my position when I inherited the property, whichforms but a fourth part of the possessions of my ancestors, and of my present hopee and expeetations. "I was boru here," lic contiuucd, "and was niy I:i1her's only child. My mother died iu my iufaney, and 1 niay say my only instructors were the good prtest of the parish, and your friend, my former nurse, Mary McGlone,"who under my mother's auspiees had, fortunatcly for me, reccived a better edueatiou than persons of lier class generally aeqnire. All the kuowledge these kind guardians of my youth possessed they iinparted to me, and I grew up here, not wcll edueated indeed, but uot in absolute ignorance, tiil I had reaehcd the years of mauhocd. 'A place Uke this has great attractious for a youth of vigorous eonstitution and active proelivities. 1 enjoyed the sports of thc field and the mode of Ufe pursued by my father, whose house was always full ot güestís, to whom he dispensad liberally a rough but abundaut hospltality. Wheu I had almost reacbed my tweuty-flist birthdsy, and preparations were being made for celebrating my majority by the usual festivlties, my dear father met witb an ucLidout fn tbo huntingiicld, from Trhich h: never rallicd, and, af ter a fe w weeks' severe suffering be died, leaving me sole inheritor of a hcavily encumbered estáte and a dilapidated eaetle. ITaving paid the last honors to hls remains, I took counsel with some old friends of my family, and they advised me to sell so mueh of the property as would discharge the debt. whieh I very relactantlv agreed tó do, as it involved partiug with nearl; three-fourths of it. AVhen Che sales were effected, I fouud mvself owner of a vast.lv diminished rental and tèrritory, but released from debt and the importunities of ireditors, who made myftttner's life miserable; and also fvee to travel, "aud sec the world whüe I was yet young. ; I liad reason, not many years aftcnrardg, to congratúlate mvself on having taken tMss conree, íor, liad I delavcd, the great depreciationinthe valué of property, resulting from the faiuiíic ol 1846, would have rulned me, as it. did so many Indebted proprietors ; what I sold reaUzed good priees, and Ieft me a rcepectable remnant oí the ancestral estáte intact. "WhiH'upon this topic," continued tlio C'ol(.ufl, "1 nuiy as well observe that, in my opinlOD,no inore cruel act of pailiamcnt ever passed tlie legislatura than tliat called tbc 'Encumber''¦I Kstales Act,' anti none to wbieh the anhorisin 'liat experimentan] in corpore vili' more tralyapplles. SirRobert Peel, no doúbi. was a gri tt statesman, bnt he was a man oí apprelieusive, iktvous politica] temperament; aod indeed, all Euglish statesmen of tbat era acted opon i 'paule view,' both as regarás free trade in corn, and Irisb legislation; botb tlicse meanires were earried by an lmpuleive 'spnrt.' Ajrainst the principie of either I do not mean to argüe; bnt tluv ghonld have been more proepective in theif operation. As it. was, the uufoittinate Irlsb laudlord had at tb'; same time to eneounter the potato íamine and a heavy depreciation in the price of gralu and cáttle ; the Engllsh markets, as thc result of the sudden abolltlon of the corn dutles, being at once delaged wlth nnusimlly large lmportations of foreign produce. At this une ture, mortgagee, intlueuccd by panic and greed, sudclenly toreclosed to an eñormousextent, lodged petitions for sale, aad hurried into the market millions of aerea in the soiith and west of Ireland, whlcfa are bought up by Jand spcculators, many of tliem the petltlontng creditors. at hall tbelrvalne. llunilieds of the old families ot the country were thus suddenly oiisted and tlirowu upon the Morid without a" shilling, and where tliev have all vanlshed to Ib incornDreliensil.le. " ' "liad the act been prospeetive, allowiug somc two or tbrec years to elapse before becoming operativo, many of tl.cse unfortunates would now be In my happier posltion, of bavíiiíí a portion of thcir estates lelt to tbem ; but the ery in parliament theu was, 'Forcé the embarrassed proprietors to i cll : capitalista will buy tbem out; settle, iruprovo the country employthe pcople, and emigratiou will cease.' Thís cry was irresistible, backed up as it was by the whole Manchester party, with Veel and Cobden at tlieir bead; and many of the oíd Irish propriators were swept aivay, unpitied and uuwept. Iu eome lnetanees capltallsts uid take tlipir places, but by far the greater number of purehasers were speculators, who at once procceded tu clcar tho land of population, with the view of reselling at a profit which man; oL them have sinee dono. "Sir Robort Peel, as alsoj thoac who succeeded him, I ropcat, wcre impulsivo, Bensational Ieglslators, as rogarded their Irisli nieasures, bolding on to" the last to an antiquated aud unsound political economy, and then givliig way in a panic of demonstrative ropentance- 'coming down by the run,' and ruining Inmdreds of the Irish aristocrary by their reeklcss prccipitancy." "Your striclures on their poliey, Colono]," said I," are very severe." "Notawhit too severe, " he replied: "and the natural result will supervine- their oxample will be followed by othor 'great etatesmeu' hereaftrr, and we shall have a erop of eeneational, othorwise 'exeeptional,' legislatiou IOT Ireland. Some of my relativos were amoug the BUffererB, and I feel 60 actuoly on the subject, thatyou must pardon this long digressiou. "I will, now," said Colonel De Burgho, '-continue my personal narrativo. I was about to inention that I bad formcd an attiichment to a young lady, the daughter of a gentleman in a ueighboring eounty. I was now free to marrv, but 1 slirank from briuging my bride to a dilápidatHl homo, whleh i had then notthe meaus of restoring. Aftor our marriago, which took place some montlis subsequent to my father's death, I put the management of my property into the hands of a gentleman in Dublin, and we went abroad, determined to economizo for a few years, and then return to oor nativo country. After two years of unsullied happiness, I had the inisfortune to lose niy dear wife, who lef t ïue the father of the two daughters whose ¦ quaiuUiiee you have made. f then conceived '¦ a repugnance to retnralng here as a widower, : and, boing resolved uot to niarry agaiu, I , ciiied to remain abroad and devote my attentiou to their education ; but, not wuhing to be without occnpaMon, I jirocurcd a commission ' in the S&rdiHlan anny, in which 1 seryed until i I aüninecl my present rank. Living in Italy is chcap, and as 1 invcstod my savings in sön.c profitable enterprises, I have succccded in amafting :i considerable fortune, part of which I propose to expend upon the reStoraticm oí a portion of the eastle, aud part upon the improvement of the estáte. In carrying out these objecta I should bc glad to liave your practical iMtetauce, as my agent andadvisrr; if you are free to accept an engagement oft hal nature, it wlll giye me slncore pleasnre; if net, perhaps you wtll kindly advise me where to tiud a competent assistent," I thanked Coloncl De Burgho for hls kind pruposal, and said that I should bu most happy to undertake the dutios he wishcd, and, in fact, before our walk terminated, we eoucludnl an engagement satisfuctory to botli. We theu returued homeward, dined, aud walked in the eveuiug for severaljiours, admiring the natural beauty of the extenuive demesne, and projecting many clianirc-s, in which Nora aud Kathlccn also toek a livcly interest. TO I(E CON'TINUED.