ck to confer with him. Roland had determined
to reveal no more of his secret to the ears of counsel than he had done
before the Court, when an accidental circumstance totally changed the
course of his proceeding.

"I have sent for you, Mr. Hammond," said Cashel, as soon as they were
seated, "to enlist your skilful services in tracing out the real authors
of a crime of which I narrowly escaped the penalty. I will first,
however, entreat your attention to another matter, for this may be the
last opportunity ever afforded me of personally consulting you."

"You purpose to live abroad, sir?" asked Hammond.

"I shall return to Mexico," said Roland, briefly; and then resumed:
"Here is a document, sir, of whose tenor and meaning I am ignorant, but
of whose importance I cannot entertain a doubt: will you peruse it?"

Hammond opened the parchment, but scarcely had his eyes glanced over it,
when he laid it down before him and said,--

"I have seen this before, Mr. Cashel. You are aware that I already gave
you my opinion as to its value?"

"I am not aware of that," said Roland, calmly. "Fray, in whose
possession did you see it, and what does it mean?"

Hammond seemed confused for a few seconds; and then, as if overcoming a
scruple, said,--

"We must both be explicit here, sir. This document was shown to me by
Mr. Linton, at Limerick, he alleging that it was at your desire and
by your request. As to its import, it simply means that you hold your
present estates without a title; that document being a full pardon,
revoking the penalty of confiscation against the heirs of Miles
Corrigan, and reinstating them and theirs in their ancient possessions.
Now, sir, may I ask, do you hear this for the first time?"

Roland nodded in acquiescence; his heart was too full for utterance, and
the sudden revulsion of his feeling had brought a sickly sensation over
him.

"Mr. Linton," resumed Hammond, "in showing me this deed, spoke of a
probable alliance between you and the granddaughter of Mr. Corrigan;
and I freely concurred in the propriety of a union which might at once
settle the difficulty of a very painful litigation. He promised me more
full information on the subject, and engaged me to make searches for a
registry, if such existed, of the pardon; but I heard nothing more from
him, and the matter escaped my memory till this moment."

"So that all this while I have been dissipating that which was not
mine," said Roland, with a bi