It was a miserable sight, when properly understood, to see the father and daughter forced, by the painful peculiarity of their circumstances, thus to conceal their natural sentiments from each other.

Love, however, is often a disturber of families, as in the case of Reilly and _Cooleen Bawn_; and so is an avaricious ambition, when united to a selfish and a sensual attachment, as in the case of Whitecraft.
It is unnecessary now, and it would be only tedious, to dwell upon the energetic preparations that were made for the three approaching trials.
Public rumor had taken them up and sent them abroad throughout the greater portion of the kingdom.

The three culprits were notorious--Sir Robert Whitecraft, the priest-hunter and prosecutor; the notorious Red Rapparee, whose exploits had been commemorated in a thousand ballads; and "Willy Reilly," whose love for the far-famed _Cooleen Bawn_, together with her unconquerable passion for him, had been known throughout the empire.

In fact, the interest which the public felt in the result of the approaching trials was intense, not only in Ireland, but throughout England and Scotland, where the circumstances connected with them were borne on the wings of the press.

Love, however, especially the romance of it--and here were not only romance but reality enough--love, we say, overcomes all collateral interests--and the history of the loves of Willy Reilly and his "dear _Cooleen Bawn_" even then touched the hearts of thousands, and moistened many a young eye for his calamities and early fate, and the sorrows of his _Cooleen Bawn_.
Helen's father, inspired by the devilish suggestions of Whitecraft, now kept aloof from her as much as he could with decency do.