any allusion to them would have compromised the part I Was obliged
to play with Ysaffich. When asked what documents or written evidence
I had to adduce in support of my pretensions, and I had confessed to
possessing none, the old lawyer leaned back in his chair, and, closing
his eyes, seemed lost in thought.

"At the best," said he, at length, "it is a case for a compromise. There
is really so little to go upon, I can advise nothing better."

I need not go into the discussion that ensued further than to say
the weight of argument was on the side of those who counselled the
compromise, and, however little disposed to yield, I felt myself
overborne by numbers, and compelled to give in.

Weeks, even months, were now passed without any apparent progress in our
suit. The party in possession of the estate treated our first advances
with the most undisguised contempt, and even met our proposals with
menaces of legal vengeance. Undeterred by these signs of strength, Mr.
Ragge persevered in his search for evidence, sent his emissaries hither
and thither, and entered upon the case with all the warm zeal of a
devoted friend. It was at length thought that a visit to Ireland might
possibly elicit some information on certain points, and thither we went
together.

It was little more than a quarter of a century since the date of my
father's death, and yet such had been the changes in the condition of
Ireland, and so great the social revolution accomplished there, that men
talked of the bygone period like some long-past history. The days of the
parliaments, and the men who figured in them, were alike for* gotten;
and although there were many who had known my father well, all memory,
not to speak of affection for him, had lapsed from their natures.

Crowther and Fagan were dead, but Joe Curtis was alive, and continued to
live in Castle Carew in a style of riotous debauchery that scandalized
the whole country. In fact, the mere mention of his name was sufficient
to elicit the most disgraceful anecdotes of his habits. Unknown to
and unrecognized by his equals, this old man had condescended to form
intimacy with all that Dublin contained of the profligate and abandoned;
and, surrounded by men and women of this class, his days and nights were
one continued orgie. Although the estate was a large one, it was rumored
that he was deeply in debt, and only obtained means for this wasteful
existence by loans on ruinous conditions. In vain Mr. R