ca,' he says. 'He had joined one of those patriot
expeditions which sailed from Ireland to join Bolivar.'

"'This he can prove, of course?' observed he, shrewdly.

"'I conclude he can,' replied I; 'it never occurred to me to question
it.'

"There was an interval after this, in which neither of us spoke; at last
he said, 'May I ask how you became acquainted with this man--Meekins?'

"'Through a brother clergyman, who was the means of saving his life
abroad.'

"'And the intention is,' rejoined he, in a slow and deliberate voice,
'that we should, while believing this man's statement, keep it secret?
Would not that amount to a very grave offence,--the compromise of a
felony?'

"I hesitated as he said this, not knowing well which way the discussion
might turn; at last I replied, 'Meekins might refuse his evidence,--he
might deny that he had ever made these revelations.'

"'In other words,' said he, 'he prefers to sell his testimony for a
better price than a court of justice would pay for it.'

"'You do not suppose that I could be a party to----'

"'Nay, nay,' cried he, interrupting me, 'not on such grounds as these;
but I can well conceive your feeling strongly interested for the
blameless and unhappy children. The only question is, how far such
sympathies can be indulged against the direct claims of justice.'

"There was a dispassionate calmness in the tone he spoke this, that
disarmed my suspicions, D'Esmonde; and it was only when I had left him
and was on my way back here, that I perceived what may, perhaps, have
been a very great error; for I at once proceeded to lay before him the
course I would counsel, and how, by the employment of a very moderate
sum, this fellow could be induced to emigrate to America, never to
return. After pushing this view with all the force I could, I at last
avowed, as if driven to the confession, that another motive had also its
weight with me, which was, that my friend and brother priest--the same
who rescued Meekins from his fate--was the natural son of Mr. Godfrey,
educated and brought up at his cost, and maintained till the period of
his death with every requisite of rank and station; that Meekins knew
this fact, and would publish it to the world, if provoked to it, and
that thus my friend's position at the court of Rome would be utterly
ruined.

"'He is a Monsignore, then?" asked Grounsell.

'"He is,' replied I, 'and may even yet be more than that.'"

"This was rash, Miche