A little circumstance which occurred during this visit increased his interest for the family, When Lady de Cresey’s little boys came in after dinner, one of them was playing with a seal, which had just been torn from a letter.  The child showed it to Lord Colambre, and asked him to read the motto.  The motto was,’Deeds, not words’—­his friend Sir James Brooke’s motto, and his arms.  Lord Colambre eagerly inquired if this family was acquainted with Sir James, and he soon perceived that they were not only acquainted with him, but that they were particularly interested about him.

Lady Oranmore’s second daughter, Lady Harriet, appeared particularly pleased by the manner in which Lord Colambre spoke of Sir James.  And the child, who had now established himself on his lordship’s knee, turned round, and whispered in his ear, ’’Twas Aunt Harriet gave me the seal; Sir James is to be married to Aunt Harriet, and then he will be my uncle.’

Some of the principal gentry of this part of the country happened to dine at Oranmore one of the days Lord Colambre was there.  He was surprised at the discovery, that there were so many agreeable, well-informed, and well-bred people, of whom, while he was at Killpatrickstown, he had seen nothing.  He now discerned how far he had been deceived by Lady Dashfort.

Both the count, and Lord and Lady Oranmore, who were warmly attached to their country, exhorted him to make himself amends for the time he had lost, by seeing with his own eyes, and judging with his own understanding, of the country and its own inhabitants, during the remainder of the time he was to stay in Ireland.  The higher classes, in most countries, they observed were generally similar; but, in the lower class, he would find many characteristic differences.

When he first came to Ireland, he had been very eager to go and see his father’s estate, and to judge of the conduct of his agents, and the condition of his tenantry; but this eagerness had subsided, and the design had almost faded from his mind, whilst under the influence of Lady Dashfort’s misrepresentations.  A mistake, relative to some remittance from his banker in Dublin, obliged him to delay his journey a few days, and during that time Lord and Lady Oranmore showed him the neat cottages, the well-attended schools, in their neighbourhood.  They showed him not only what could be done, but what had been done, by the influence of great proprietors residing on their own estates, and encouraging the people by judicious kindness.

He saw, he acknowledged the truth of this; but it did not come home to his feelings now as it would have done a little while ago.  His views and plans were altered; he looked forward to the idea of marrying and settling in Ireland, and then everything in the country was interesting to him; but since he had forbidden himself to think of a union with Miss Nugent, his mind had lost its object and its spring; he was not sufficiently calm to think of the public good; his thoughts were absorbed by his private concern.  He knew, and repeated to himself, that he ought to visit his own and his father’s estates, and to see the condition of his tenantry; he desired to fulfil his duties, but they ceased to appear to him easy and pleasurable, for hope and love no longer brightened his prospects.