Full of
happy aspiration he wandered seeking the country through the many
straggling villages that hang like children round the skirts of
Dublin, and was passing through one of these at nightfall, and,
feeling tired, he turned into the bar of an inn, and asked for
bread and cheese.
"Come a long way, governor?" said one of two rough fellows.
"I am going a long way," replied Dempsey; "I am going north--very
far north."
"And what may yer be going north for, if I may make bold to ask?"
"I am going to the lady I love, and I am taking her beautiful
presents of jewellery."
The two rough fellows exchanged glances; and it is easy to imagine
how Dempsey was induced to let them have his diamonds, so that
inquiries might be made of a friend round the corner regarding
their value. After waiting a little while, Dempsey paid for his
bread and cheese, and went in search of the thieves. But the face
of Henrietta Brown obliterated all remembrance of thieves and
diamonds, and he wandered for a few days, sustained by his dream
and the crusts that his appearance drew from the pitiful. At last
he even neglected to ask for a crust, and, foodless, followed the
beckoning vision, from sunrise to sundown
It was a soft, quiet summer's night when Dempsey lay down to sleep
for the last time. He was very tired, he had been wandering all
day, and threw himself on the grass by the roadside. He lay there
looking up at the stars, thinking of Henrietta, knowing that
everything was slipping away, and he passing into a diviner sense.
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