When Ussher first came into the parlour at Ballycloran, he asked after Thady, and it will be necessary to explain why he did so; the terms on which the two men stood towards each other not being such as to render it probable that either should be very anxious for the presence of the other.

It had come to the knowledge of Denis McGovery that Brady had asked to the wedding a lot of men from Drumleesh, and some also from Mohill — characters with whom Denis was not apt to consort¹ himself, and whom he looked on as paupers² and rapparees. He had also made out, it is presumed with the aid of his affianced, that some other motive³ was probably ensuring their attendance than merely that of doing honour to his, Denis’s, nuptials⁴. Pat Brady was not likely to have made a confidant of his sister or of Denis on the occasion; but nevertheless, the bridegroom had discovered that the meeting was, to some extent, to be a political one, and moreover, that Thady Macdermot was expected to be there.

Now McGovery, although it must be presumed that, in common with all Irishmen of the lower order, he conceived that he was to a certain degree injured and oppressed by the operation of the existing laws, nevertheless had always thought it the wiser course to be with the laws, bad as they might be, than against them. When, therefore, he learnt that the brothers of the men whom Ussher had put into prison were to be of the party, and that many of their more immediate⁶ neighbours would be there, and remembered also that Captain Ussher himself had promised to come to the “divarsion,” mighty⁷ fears suggested themselves to him, and he began to dread⁸ that the occasion would be taken for offering some personal injury to the latter! In which case, might not all be implicated⁹? — and among the number that dear person for whom Denis felt the tenderest regard — viz., himself?

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