little else than ingratitude in this
world, and eaten bread, like hunger, is soon forgotten, though far
seldomer by dogs, I am sorry to say, than by man--a circumstance which
makes the case I am repeating to you of this cur still worse. But,
indeed, he served me right; for bribery, even to a dog, does not deserve
to prosper. But I beg your pardon, sir, for obtruding my own little
grievances upon a stranger. What is it you expect me to do for you in
this business? You allude, I think, to Lady Gourlay; and, in truth, if
it was in my power to restore her son to her, that good and charitable
lady would not be long without him."

"I do," replied the other--"She is under a strong impression, in
consequence of the dying man's allusion to the boy's uncle, Sir Thomas,
'who,' he said, 'knows,' that he is cognizant of the position--whatever
it may be--in which her unfortunate son is placed."

"Not unlikely, but still what can I do in this?"

"I am scarcely aware of that myself," replied the other; "but I may
say that it was Mr. Birney, who, under the circumstances of peculiar
difficulty in which I am placed, suggested to me to see you, and who
justified me besides in reposing this important confidence in you."

"I thank Mr. Birney," said Father Peter, "and you may rest assured, that
your confidence will not be abused, and that upon a higher principle,
I trust, than my friendship for that worthy and estimable gentleman. I
wish all in his dirty roguish profession were like him. By the way,"
he added, as if struck by a sudden thought, "perhaps you are the worthy
gentleman who kicked the Black Baronet downstairs in the Mitre inn?"

"No," he replied; "some warm words we had, which indeed for one reason I
regret; but that was all. Sir Thomas, sir, I believe, is not popular in
the neighborhood?"

"I make it a point, my friend," replied the priest, "never to spake ill
of the absent; but perhaps you are aware that his only son disappeared
as mysteriously as the other, and that he charges his sister-in-law
as the cause of it; so that, in point of fact, their suspicions are
mutual."

"I believe so," said the other; "but I wish to direct your attention to
another fact, or, rather, to another individual, who seems to me to be
involved in considerable mystery."

"And pray, who is that." replied the priest--"Not yourself, I hope; for
in truth, by all accounts, you're as mysterious as e'er a one of them."

"My mystery will soon disappe