hose fluctuations that attend on all commercial or industrial
enterprises; but they rallied even more quickly than they went down.
When I left town yesterday, they were at one hundred and forty-three."

"I know it, sir. I received your telegram, and I showed it to Bayle and
Childers, but they only smiled, and said, 'So much the better for the
holders.'"

"I defy any man--I don't care what may be his abilities or what his
zeal--to benefit this country!" exclaimed Dunn, passionately. "There
is amongst Irishmen, towards each other, such an amount of narrow
jealousy--mean, miserable, envious rivalry--as would swamp the best
intentions, and destroy the wisest plans that ever were conceived. May
my fate prove a warning to whoever is fool enough to follow me!"

Was it that when Dunn thus spoke he hoped to persuade Mr. Hankes that he
was a noble-hearted patriot, sorrowing over the errors of an ungrateful
country? Did he fancy that his subtle lieutenant, the associate of all
his deep intrigues, the confidant of his darkest schemes, was suddenly
to see in him nothing but magnanimity of soul and single-hearted
devotedness? No, I cannot presume to say that he indulged in any such
delusion. He uttered the words just to please himself,--to flatter
himself! as some men drink off a cordial to give them Dutch courage.
There are others that enunciate grand sentiments, high sounding and
magniloquent, the very music and resonance of their words imparting a
warm glow within them.

It is a common error to imagine that such "stage thunder" is confined to
that after-dinner eloquence in whose benefit the canons of truth-telling
are all repealed. Far from it. The practice enters into every hour of
every-day life, and the greatest knave that ever rogued never cheated
the world half as often as he cheated himself!

As though it had been a glass of brown sherry that he swallowed, Mr.
Dunn felt "better" after he had uttered these fine words. He experienced
a proud satisfaction in thinking what a generous heart beat within
his own waistcoat; and thus reassured, he thought well of the world at
large.

"And Ossory, Mr. Hankes,--how is Ossory?"

"A hundred and fourteen, with a look upwards," responded Mr. Hankes.
"Since the day of 'the run' deposits have largely increased. Indeed,
I may say we are now the great country gentry bank of the midland. We
discount freely, too, and we lend generously."

"I shall want some ready money soon, Hankes," sa