for the darker snares of downright treachery?"

"You shall hear," said Enrique. "Sit down hereupon this stone; I have
some hours before I sail. The vessel leaves Limerick to-morrow for
Naples; and thither I am bound, for Maritana is there. No, no, my dear
friend, you must not ask me to stay; I have remained longer than I
ought; but I waited for the time when I might be able to recompense you
for having thus played the spy upon your actions. Hear me out patiently
now, for that hour is come."

As Cashel seated himself beside Enrique, it was only by a great effort
he could compose himself to listen, when a hundred questions came
thronging to his mind, and doubts and inquiries, of every possible kind,
demanded explanation.

"I will not waste your time nor my own by dwelling upon your losses at
play. I may one day or another amuse you by showing how little chance
our old Columbian friends would have had against these honorable and
right honorable swindlers. That you should be the mark for artifice is
natural enough; but I have little patience with your blindness in not
seeing it. From the first hour of your arrival here, Linton set a watch
upon your doings. Phillis was his principal agent. But even upon him
Linton had his spies,--myself among the number. Ay, Roland, I was
perhaps the only one he trusted! As I have said, Linton marked every
step you took, heard all you said, read every letter that reached you.
Every night it was his practice, at a certain hour when you repaired to
the cottage, to enter your dressing-room by a secret door that led
from the theatre; and then, at his leisure, he ransacked your papers,
examined your correspondence, searched through all the documents which
concerned your estate, possessing himself of information on every point
of your circumstances. Nor was this all; he abstracted papers of value
from amongst them, well knowing the carelessness of your habits, and
with what little risk of detection his boldest darings were attended. I
studied him long and closely. For a great while I could not detect the
clew to his proceedings. I even at one time ascribed all to jealousy,
for he _was_ jealous of the favor by which Lady Kilgoff distinguished
you. This, however, could not explain all I saw, for it was on the
subject of your fortune his deepest interest was excited. At last came
his first move, and the whole game disclosed itself before me. There lay
upon your table for several days a deed concer