That girl Lesbia Burke would have
forcibly abducted me, and married me against my will, if she hadn't had
to follow the rest of the family to Port Phillip."
"A fine woman, too," said Captain Brentwood.
"I'd have called her a little coarse, myself," said Desborough.
"One of the finest, strangest sights I ever saw in my life," resumed
Captain Brentwood, "was on the morning I came to take possession. None
of the family were left but Murtagh Donovan and Miss Burke. I rode over
from Buckley's, and when I came to the door Donovan took me by the arm,
and saying 'whist,' led me into the sitting-room. There, in front of
the empty fireplace, crouched down on the floor, bareheaded, with her
beautiful hair hanging about her shoulders, sat Miss Burke. Every now
and then she would utter the strangest low wailing cry you ever heard:
a cry, by Jove, sir, that went straight to your heart. I turned to
Donovan, and whispered, 'Is she ill?' and he whispered again, 'Her
heart's broke at leaving the old place where she's lived so long. She's
raising the keen over the cold hearthstone. It's the way of the
Burkes.
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