ur wants. As matters
stand, however, I tell you now that I would not give you sixpence for
any information you could communicate."

Anthony gave him a derisive look, and pursed up his thin miser-like lips
into a grin of most sinister triumph.

"Wouldn't you, indeed?" said he. "Are you quite sure of what you say?"

"Quite certain of it."

"Well, now, how positive some people is. You have found him out, then?"
he asked, with a shrewd look. "You have found him, and you don't require
any information from me."

"Whether we have found him or not," replied the other, "is a question
which I will not answer; but that we require no information from you, is
fact. While it was a marketable commodity, you refused to dispose of it;
but, now, we have got the supply elsewhere."

"Well, sir," said Anthony, "all I can say is, that I'm very glad to hear
it; and it's no harm, surely, to wish you joy of it."

The same mocking sneer which accompanied this observation was perfectly
vexatious; it seemed to say, "So you think, but you may be mistaken,
Take care that I haven't you in my power still."

"Why do you look in that disagreeable way, Corbet? I never saw a man
whose face can express one thing, and his words another, so effectually
as yours, when you wish."

"You mane to say, sir," he returned, with a true sardonic smile, "that
my face isn't an obedient face; but sure I can't help that. This is the
face that God has given me, and I must be content with it, such as it
is."

"I was told this morning by Father M'Mahon," replied the other, anxious
to get rid of him as soon as he could, "that you had expressed a wish to
see me."

"I believe I did say something to that effect; but then it appears you
know everything yourself, and don't want my assistance."

"Any assistance we may at a future time require at your hands we shall
be able to extort from you through the laws of the land and of justice;
and if it appears that you have been an accomplice or agent in such a
deep and diabolical crime, neither power, nor wealth, nor cunning, shall
be able to protect you from the utmost rigor of the law. You had neither
mercy nor compassion on the widow or her child; and the probability is,
that, old as you are, you will be made to taste the deepest disgrace,
and the heaviest punishment that can be annexed to the crime you have
committed."

A singular change came over the features of the old man. Paleness in
age, especially when conscien