Purcel, on reaching the metropolis, was a great deal astonished at the change which he observed in Dr. Turbot.  That gentleman’s double chin had followed the carnal fortunes of the church that supported it.  The rosy dewlap, in fact, was no longer visible, if we except a slight pendulous article, which defied the whole nomenclature of colors to classify its tint, and was only visible when his head and neck assumed a peculiar attitude.  In fact, the change appeared to Purcel to have been an exceedingly beneficial one.  The gross carnal character of his whole appearance was gone; his person had become comparatively thin, and had a far and distant, but still an approximating, tendency to something of the apostolic.  He was now leading by compulsion, a reasonable and natural life, and one not so much at variance with the simple principles of his religion, whatever it might be with those of the then establishment.  His horses and carriages and powdered servants were all gone too, so was the rich air of wealth and costly luxury which formerly breathed throughout his fine mansion, in one of the most fashionable streets of the metropolis.  His eye, no longer loaded by the bloodshot symptoms of an over-fed and plethoric constitution, was now clear and intellectual, and there appeared to be an unencumbered activity about his jaws that argued a vigor and quickness of execution in matters of a sumptuary character, which, when gross and unwieldy from luxury, they never could reach.  He was by no means in his usual spirits, it is true, but then he was in much better health, and a vague report of something in the shape of a loan to the clergy, to the tune of a million, gave him a considerable degree of cheerfulness.

John Purcel, having dispatched his business with him as quickly as he could, called upon M’Carthy in college.  This gentleman having, in fact, heard such an account of the threats and determinations of vengeance with which the Purcel family were threatened, had felt deep anxiety as to their fate.  He had written more than once to them on the subject, entreating that, as their wealth had rendered them independent, they would remove either to Lisnagola or Dublin.  This, however, was a determination to which they had come recently themselves, and one portion of John’s business to the metropolis was connected with it.

On the day previous to Purcel’s visit to M’Carthy, that young man had received the following short and somewhat mysterious communication from the country:—­

“Mr. M’Carthy.—­Sir—­If you wish to save some of Mr. Purcel’s family—­save them all you cannot—­and if you have courage, and isn’t afraid to risk your life, you will come down to Longshot Lodge and wait there till you here more from ’One that has proved himself your Friend’.”

This determined M’Carthy; and when John Purcel asked him to spend the Christmas with them, he felt gratified at the alacrity with which the other embraced his offer.  The next morning they started for Longshot Lodge, and in due time were cordially greeted by the proctor and his family.