— how brief has been my pride of early matrimony, or how beloved were those whom the Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. But sometimes as, smiling on my little boy, the tears gather in my eyes, and he wonders, I can see, why they come, I am thinking — and trembling while I smile — to think, how strong is love, how frail is life; and rejoicing while I tremble that, in the deathless love of those who mourn, the Lord of Life, who never gave a pang in vain. Conveys the sweet and ennobling promise of a compensation by eternal reunion. So, through my sorrows, I have heard a voice from heaven say, “Write, from hencefore blessed are the dead that lie in the Lord!”
This world is a parable — the habitation of symbols — the phantoms of spiritual things immortal shown in material shape. May the blessed second-sight be mine — to recognise under these beautiful forms of earth the ANGELS who wear them; for I am sure we may walk with them if we will, and hear them speak!
The Cock and Anchor
Chapter I. The "Cock and Anchor"—Two Horsemen—And a Supper by the Inn Fire
Chapter II. A Bed in the "Cock and Anchor"—A Lantern and an Ugly Visitor by the Bedside
Chapter III. The Little Man in Blue and Silver
Chapter V. Of O'Connor's Moonlight Walk to the "Cock and Anchor," and What Befell Him by the Way
Chapter VI. The Soldier—The Night Ramble—And the Window That Let in More Than the Moonlight
Chapter IX. The "Bleeding Horse"—Hollands and Pipes for Two—Every Bullet Has Its Billet
Chapter XI. The Old Beech—Tree Walk and the IVY-Grown Gateway—The Tryste and Tue Crutch-Handled Cane
Chapter XII. The Appointed Hour—The Schemers and the Plot
Chapter XIII. The Interview—The Parchment—And the Nobleman's Coach
Chapter XIV. About a Certain Garden and a Damsel—And Also Concerning a Letter and a Red Leathern Box
Chapter XVII. Dublin Castle by Night—The Drawing-Room—Lord Wharton and His Court
Chapter XVIII. The Two Cousins—The Neglected Jewels and the Broken Seal
Chapter XIX. The Theatre—The Ruffian—The Assault, and the Rencontre
Chapter XXI. Who Appeared to Mary Ashwoode as She Sate Under the Trees—The Champion
Chapter XXIII. The Dark Room—Containing Plenty of Scars and Bruises and Plans of Vengeance
Chapter XXIV. A Critic—A Condition—And the Small-Swords
Chapter XXV. The Combat and Its Issue
Chapter XXVI. The Hell—Gordon Chancey—Luck—Frenzy and a Resolution
Chapter XXVII. The Departure of the Peer—The Billet and the Shattered Mirror
Chapter XXVIII. The Thunder-Storm—The Ebony Stick—The Unseen Visitant—Terror
Chapter XXIX. The Crones—The Corpse, and the Sharper
Chapter XXXI. The Usurer and the Oaken Box
Chapter XXXII. The Diabolic Whisper
Chapter XXXIV. The "Old St. Columbkil"—A Tête-À—Tête in the "Royal Ram"—The Tempter
Chapter XXXVI. Of Jewels, Plate, Horses, Dogs, and Family Pictures—And Concerning the Appointed Hour