emotions--and see that hope and fear, and terror and gratitude, sway the hearts of men who, to less observant eyes, seem to have no place in their natures but for rebellion. That this mode of governing Ireland is the one charm to the Celtic heart, all the Tory rule of the last fifty years, with its hangings and banishments and other terrible blunders, will soon convince you. The Priest alone has felt the pulse of this people, and we are the only Ministers of England who have taken the Priest into our confidence. I own to you I claim some credit for myself in this discovery. It was in long reflecting over the ills of Ireland that I came to see that where the malady has so much in its nature that is sensational and emotional, so must the remedy be sensational too. The Tories were ever bent on extirpating--_we_ devote ourselves to “healing measures.” Do you follow me?’ ‘I do,’ said she thoughtfully. ‘Do I interest you?’ asked he, more tenderly. ‘Intensely,’ was the reply. ‘Oh, if I could but think _that_. If I could bring myself to believe that the day would come, not only to secure your interest, but your aid and your assistance in this great task! I have long sought the opportunity to tell you that we, who hold the destinies of a people in our keeping, are not inferior to our great trust, that we are not mere creatures of a state department, small deities of the Olympus of office, but actual statesmen and rulers. Fortune has given me the wished-for moment, let it complete my happiness, let it tell me that you see in this noble work one worthy of your genius and your generosity, and that you would accept me as a fellow-labourer in the cause.’ The fervour which he threw into the utterance of these words contrasted strongly and strangely with the words themselves; so unlike the declaration of a lover’s passion. ‘I do--not--know,’ said she falteringly. ‘What is that you do not know?’ asked he, with tender eagerness. ‘I do not know if I understand you aright, and I do not know what answer I should give you.’ ‘Will not your heart tell you?’ She shook her head. ‘You will not crush me with the thought that there is no pleading for me there.’ ‘If you had desired in honesty my regard, you should not have prejudiced me: you began here by enlisting my sympathies in your Task; you told me of your ambitions. I like these ambitions.’ ‘Why not share them?’ cried he passionately. ‘You seem to forget what you ask. A woman does not give her heart as a man joins a party or an administration. It is no question of an advantage based upon a compromise. There is no sentiment of gratitude, or recompense, or reward in the gift. She simply gives that which is no longer hers to retain! She trusts to what her mind will not stop to question--she goes where she cannot help but follow.’ ‘How immeasurably greater your every word makes the prize of your love.’ ‘It is in no vanity that I say I know it,’ said she calmly. ‘Let us speak no more on this now.’