ealer may be
no less expert as a calumniator. I will beg you to leave my house this
instant."

"Not so fast, sir," said Linton, assuming a seat, and at once regaining
that insolent composure for which he was noted; "I have not that
generous warmth of character which is so conspicuous in _you_. I have
never given Mr. Cashel a release of any obligation I possess upon him.
This house is _mine_, sir--mine by legal transfer and right; and it is
_you_ who are the intruder!"

The old man staggered backwards, and leaned against the wall; a clammy
perspiration covered his face and forehead, and he seemed sick to the
very death. It was some time before he could even utter a word; and
then, as with clasped hands and uplifted eyes he spoke, the fervor of
his words told that they were heart-spoken. "Thank God for this! but for
it, and I had given my child to a scoundrel!"

"Scarcely polite, sir, and, perhaps, scarcely politic," said Linton,
with his treacherous half-smile. "It would be as well to bear in mind
how we stand toward each other."

"As enemies, open and declared," cried Corrigan, fiercely.

"I should say as creditor and debtor," said Linton; "but probably we are
speaking in synonyms. Now, sir, a truce to this altercation, for which
I have neither time nor taste. Tell me frankly, can you obtain
repossession of this unlucky document which, in an ill-starred moment,
you parted with? If you can, and will do so, I am willing to resume
the position I occupied towards you half an hour ago. This is plain
speaking, I am aware; but how much better than to bandy mock courtesies,
in which neither of us have any faith! We are both men of the world--I,
at least, have no shame in saying that I am such. Let us then be frank
and business-like."

"You have at last filled up the measure of your insults, sir," said
Corrigan, fiercely; "you have dared to speak of me as of yourself."

"It is a compliment I have not paid a great many, notwithstanding,"
replied Linton, with a languid insolence of manner that contrasted
strongly with the other's natural warmth; "and there are people in this
world would accept it as a flattery; but once more I say, let us abandon
this silly squabble. Will you, or will you not, accept my proposal? I am
ready to purchase the wreck as she lies upon the rocks, wave-tossed and
shattered. Is it not better to give me the chance of floating her, than
see her go to pieces before your eyes, and drift piecemeal into