.

"I have good grounds and excellent authority for what I say," replied
Hycy. "You have acted a very dishonorable part, Mr. Finigan, and the
consequence is that I have ceased to be your friend."

"I act a dishonorable part. Why, sir, I scorn the imputation; but how
have I acted a dishonorable part? that's the point."

"You put Bryan M'Mahon upon his guard against me, and consequently left
an impression on his mind that I was his enemy."

"Well," said the other, with a good deal of irony, "that is good! Have
I, indeed? And pray, Mr. Burke, who says so?"

"I have already stated that my authority for it is good."

"But you must name you authority, sir, no lurking assassin shall be
permitted wid impunity to stab my fair reputation wid the foul dagger of
calumny and scandal. Name your authority, sir?"

"I could do so."

"Well, sir, why don't you? Let me hear the name of the illiterate
miscreant, whoever he is, that has dared to tamper with my unblemished
fame."

"All I ask you," continued Hycy, "is to candidly admit the fact, and
state why you acted as you did."

"Name your authority, sir, and then I shall speak. Perhaps I did, and
perhaps I did not; but when you name your authority I shall then
give you a more satisfactory reply. That's the language--the elevated
language--of a gentleman, Mr. Burke."

"My authority then is no other than Bryan M'Mahon himself," replied
Hycy, "who told me that he was cautioned against me; so that I hope
you're now satisfied."

"Mr. Burke," replied Finigan, assuming a lofty and impressive manner,
"I have known the M'Mahons for better than forty years; so, in fact, has
the country around them; and until the present moment I never heard that
a deliberate falsehood, or any breach of truth whatsoever, was imputed
to any one of them. Tom M'Mahon's simple word was never doubted, and
would pass aquil to many a man's oath; and it is the same thing wid the
whole family, man and women. They are proverbial, sir, for truth
and integrity, and a most spontaneous effusion of candor under all
circumstances. You will pardon me then, Mr. Hycy, if I avow a trifle of
heresy in this matter. You are yourself, wid great respect be it spoken,
sometimes said to sport your imagination occasionally, and to try your
hand wid considerable success at a _lapsus veritatis_. Pardon me, then,
if I think it somewhat more probable that you have just now stated what
an ould instructor of mine used to call a moral