The gloom which they read in his countenance was now explained, but this was not all; it immediately settled upon the other members of the family who were immediately moved,--all by sorrow, and some even to tears. Dora, who, notwithstanding what her brother had said with regard to his intention of emigrating, still maintained a latent hope that he might change his mind, and that a reconciliation besides might yet be brought about between him and Kathleen, now went to her father, and, with tears in her eyes, threw her arms about his neck, exclaiming: “Oh, father dear, don't think of leaving this place, for how could we leave it? What other country could we ever like as well? and my grandfather--here he's creepin' in, sure he's not the same man within the last few months,--oh, how could you think of bringin' him, now that he's partly in his grave, an' he,” she added, in a whisper full of compassion, “an' he partly dotin' with feebleness and age.” “Hush!” said her father, “we must say nothing of it to him. That must be kept a secret from him, an' it's likely he won't notice the change.” Kitty then went over, and laying her hand on her father's arm, said: “Father, for the love of God, don't take us from Carriglass and Ahadarra:--whatever the world has for us, whether for good or evil, let us bear it here.” “Father, you won't bring us nor you won't go,” added Dora; “sure we never could be very miserable here, where we have all been so happy.” “Poor Dora!” said Bryan, “what a mistake that is! I feel the contrary; for the very happiness that I and all of us enjoyed here, now only adds to what I'm sufferin'.” “Childre',” said the father, “our landlord has broken his own father's dyin' promise--you all remember how full of delight I came home to you from Dublin, and how she that's gone”--he paused;--he covered his face with his open hands, through which the tears were seen to trickle. This allusion to their beloved mother was too much for them. Arthur and Michael sat in silence, not knowing exactly upon what grounds their father had formed a resolution, which, when proposed to him by Bryan, appeared to be one to which his heart could never lend its sanction. No sooner was their mother named, however, than they too became deeply moved, and when Kitty and Dora both rushed with an outcry of sorrow to their father, exclaiming, “Oh, father dear, think of her that's in the clay--for her sake, change your mind and don't take us to where we can never weep a tear over her blessed grave, nor ever kneel over it to offer a prayer within her hearin' for her soul!”