een outraged and insulted; but I remembered, suddenly,
that there were others, far higher than us, exposed to the same
indignity. The Castle was crowded by the rank, the wealth, and the
influence of the whole country; and if there be a disgrace to be
endured, we have at least partners in our shame."

"Yes, yes," said Crowther, nodding his head slowly in assent; "the whole
assumes a strange and most remarkable consistency. I remember well,
hearing how many of those invited on that occasion had sent letters of
apology; and stranger again, the way in which the party broke up and
separated has been made public enough in the newspapers. Rutledge's
own words were: 'It was a rout, not a retreat.' That was a curious
expression."

Who has not, at some time or other of his life, experienced the force
of that casuistry which is begotten of suspicion? Who has not felt how
completely reason is mastered by the subtle assaults of a wily ingenuity
which, whilst combining the false and the true, the possible and
impossible together, makes out a mock array of evidence almost too
strong for a doubt? The least creative of minds are endowed with this
faculty, and even the most commonplace and matter-of-fact temperaments
are sometimes the slaves of this delusion! To render its influence all
powerful, however, it should be exercised by two who, in the interchange
of suspicions, and by bartering their inferences, arrive at a degree of
certainty in their conclusions rarely accorded to the most convincing
testimony. As a river is swollen by the aid of every tiny rill that
trickles down the mountain side, so does the current of conviction
receive as tributary, incidents the most trivial, and events of the
slightest meaning.

Fagan's spirit revolted at what he felt to be a gross insult passed upon
his daughter; but this very indignation served to rivet more firmly his
suspicions, for he reasoned thus: Men are ever ready to credit what they
desire to be credible, and to disbelieve that which it is unpleasant
to accept as true. Now, here have I every temptation to incredulity!
If this be the fact, as my suspicions indicate, I have been deeply
outraged. An affront has been offered to me which dared not have been
put upon one of higher rank and better blood. It is, therefore, my
interest and my wish to suppose this impossible; and yet I cannot do
so. Not all the self-respect I can call to aid, not all the desire to
shelter myself behind a doubt, wi