; and I would n't believe St. Peter if
he told me you only did it _once!_"

"If this be not raving, it is a deliberate insult!" muttered Dunn,
sternly, while he rudely pushed away the other's hand, and drew back his
chair.

"Well, it's not raving, whatever it is," said Kellett, calmly. "The cold
air of the earth that's opening for me clears my brain, and I know well
the words I 'm saying, and the warning I 'm giving you. Tell the people
fairly that it's only scheming you were; that the companies are a bubble
and the banks a sham; that you 're only juggling this man's credit
against that, making the people think that you have the confidence of
the Government, and the Government believe that you can do what you like
with the people. Go at once and publish it, that you are only cheating
them all, or you 'll have a gloomier ending even than this!"

"I came out of compassion for you."

"No, you did n't, not a bit of it. You came to tell old Mat Dunn that
the score was wiped off; _he_ came to the window here this morning and
looked in at me."

"My father? Impossible! He's nearly ninety, and barely able to move
about a room."

"I don't care for that: there he was, where you see that bush, and he
leaned on the window-sill and looked at me; and he wiped the glass,
where his breath dulled it, twice. Then I gave a shout at him that sent
him off. They had to carry him to the car outside."

"Is this true?" cried Dunn, eagerly.

"If I had had but the strength to bring me to the window, it's little I
'd have minded his white hair."

"If you had dared!" said Dunn, rising, and no longer able to control his
anger.

"Don't go yet; I have more to say to you," cried he, stretching out his
hands towards him. "You think, because your roguery is succeeding, that
you are great and respected. Not a bit; the gentlemen won't have you,
and your own sort won't have you. There's not an honest man would eat
your salt,--there's not an honest girl would bear your name. There you
stand, as much alone in the world as if you came out of another country,
and you 're the only man in Ireland does n't see it."

Dunn darted from the room as the last words were uttered, and gained the
road. So overwhelmed was he by rage and astonishment that it was some
minutes ere he could remember where he was or whither he would go.

"To Beldoyle," said he to the carman, pointing in the direction of the
low shore, where his father lived; "drive your best pace."