About seven in the evening
Mary McGovery would not leave her for a moment . The woman meant kindly , but her presence was only an additional torment . She worried and tortured Feemy the whole day ; she talked to her , intending to comfort her , till she was so bewildered , that she could not understand a word that was said ; and she kept bringing her food and slops , declaring that there was nothing like eating for a sore heart , -- that if Ussher was gone , there were still as good fish in the sea as ever were caught , -- and that even if Thady were condemned , the judge could n't do more than transport him , which would only be sending him out to a better country , and `` faix the one he 'd lave 's bad enough for man and baste . '' About seven in the evening Feemy was so weak that she fainted . Mary , who was in the room at the time , lifted her on the sofa , and when she found that her mistress did not immediately come to herself , she began stripping her for the sake of unlacing her stays , and thus learnt to a certainty poor Feemy 's secret . Mary had a great deal of shrewd common sense of the coarser kind ; she felt that however well inclined she might be to her mistress , she should not keep to herself the circumstance that she had just learnt ; she knew it was her duty as a woman to make it known to some one , and she at once determined to go that evening to Mrs. McKeon and tell her what it was she had discovered . As soon as Feemy had come to herself , she got her into bed , and having performed the same friendly office for the old man , she started off for Drumsna ; and having procured a private audience with Mrs. McKeon , told her what had occurred .