"But to _me_," said Cashel, "this objection cannot apply."

"His orders are positive, and without qualification; but any proposition
which you desire to submit--"

"Can come through Mr. Hoare?" said Cashel, sneer-ingly. "I prefer doing
these things in person, sir."

"Leave this to me," whispered Tiernay; "I'll manage him better."

Cashel squeezed his friend's arm in assent, and turned away; while
Hoare, reseating himself, proceeded to draw out the bill for Cashel's
signature.

"You are aware," said Tiernay, "that Corrigan can give you nothing but
personal security for this sum, and the lease of Tubber-beg?" But Cashel
did not heed the remark, deep as he was in his own reflections. "There
is a small sum--a few thousand pounds--of Mary's, settled at her
mother's marriage. You are not attending to me," said he, perceiving
the pre-occupation of Roland's look. "I was mentioning that Mary
Leicester--"

"Yes," said Cashel, talking his thoughts aloud, "to marry her would,
indeed, be the true solution of the difficulty."

"What did you say?" whispered Tiernay, upon whose ear the muttered words
fell distinctly.

"She would refuse me," Roland went on; "the more certainly that I am
rich. I know her well; the rank, the station, the thousand flatteries
that wealth bestows, would be things for her mockery if unallied with
power."

"You are wrong, quite wrong," said Tiernay; "her ambition is of a
different order. Mary Leicester--"

"Mary Leicester!" echoed Cashel; and, in his suddenly awakened look,
Tiernay at once perceived that some mistake had occurred. Hoare relieved
the awkwardness of the moment as he said,--

"This wants but your signature, sir, and the matter is finished."

Cashel wrote his name on the bill and was turning away, when Hoare
said,--

"These are the bills; they are now your property, sir."

"For what purpose?"

"They are vouchers for your claim on Mr. Corrigan," said Hoare.

"His word will suffice," said Cashel; and, gathering them up, he hurled
them into the fire.

"A costly blaze that," said Hoare, as he watched the conflagration.

"Speak to him, doctor; learn what you can of Rica for me. If money will
do it, I 'll not quarrel with the price," said Cashel to Tiernay, in a
low tone. "Another point,--I was nigh forgetting it,--you 'll not tell
Mr. Corrigan how the matter has been arranged. Promise me this. Nay, I
have a reason for it,--a reason you shall hear to-morrow or next day,
and wil