hafe of bank-notes from him, an' motioned
him to be off wid himself, an' that he'd see him to-morrow. Bat went
down in the dark, an' Hycy an' his mother had some conversation in a
low voice on the lobby. She seemed angry, an' he was speakin' soft an'
strivin' to put her into good humor again. I then dipt back to bed, but
the never a wink could I get till mornin'; an' when I went down, the
first thing I saw was Bat Hogan's shoes. It was hardly light at the
time; but at any rate I hid them where they couldn't be got, an' it was
well I did, for the first thing I saw was Bat himself peering about the
street and yard, like a man that was looking for something that he had
lost."

"But how did you know that the shoes were Hogan's?" asked Vanston.

"Why, your honor, any one that ever seen the man might know that. One
of his heels is a trifle shorter than the other, which makes him halt a
little, an' he has a bunion as big as an egg on the other foot."

"Ay, Nanny," said Kate, "that's the truth; but I can tell you more,
gentlemen. On the evenin' before, when Mr. Hycy came home, he made up
the plan to rob his father wid Phil Hogan; but Phil got drunk that night
an' Bat had to go in his place. Mr. Hycy promised to see the Hogans that
mornin' at his father's, about ten o'clock; but when they went he had
gone off to Ballymacan; an' as they expected him every minute, they
stayed about the place in spite o' the family, an' mended everything
they could lay their hands on. Bat an' Mr. Hycy met that night in Teddy
Phat's still-house, in Glendearg, an' went home together across the
mountains aftherward."

"Well, Mr. Burke, what have you to say to this?" asked Chevydale.

"Why," replied Hycy, "that it's a very respectable conspiracy as it
stands, supported by the thief and vagabond, and the beggar's brat."

"Was there any investigation at the time of its occurrence?" asked
Vanston.

"There was, your honor," replied Nanny; "it was proved, clearly enough
that Phil and Ned Hogan were both dead drunk that night an' couldn't
commit a robbery; an' Masther Hycy himself said that he knew how Bat
spent the night, an' that of course he couldn't do it; an' you know,
your honors, there was no gettin' over that. I have, or rather my father
has, Bat Hogan's shoes still."

"This, I repeat, seems a very serious charge, Mr. Burke," said Chevydale
again.

"Which, as I said before, contains not one particle of truth," replied
Hycy. "If I had resol