not better as the
living dupe than as the dead enemy?"

"Do you not see how your death legalized the deed with a forged
signature? Who was to dispute its authenticity? Besides, how know we
what ambitions Linton may not have cherished when holding in his hands
the only title to the estate. We may go too fast with these suspicions,
but let us not reject them as inconsistent Who is this same witness,
Keane? What motives had he for the gratitude he evinced on the trial?"

"None whatever; on the contrary, I never showed him any favor; it was
even my intention to dismiss him from the gate-lodge!"

"And he was aware of this?"

"Perfectly. He had besought several people to intercede for him, Linton
among the rest."

"So that he was known to Linton? And what has become of him since the
trial?"

"That is the strangest of all; my wish was to have done something for
the poor fellow. I could not readily forget the feeling he showed, at
a moment, too, when none seemed to remember me; so that when I reached
Tubbermore, I at once repaired to the lodge, but he was gone."

"And in what direction?"

"His wife could not tell. The poor creature was distracted at being
deserted, and seemed to think, from what cause I know not, that he would
not return. He had come back after the trial in company with another,
who remained on the roadside while Keane hastily packed up some clothes,
after which they departed together."

"This must be thought of," said Hammond, gravely, while he wrote some
lines in his note-book.

"It is somewhat strange, indeed," said Cashel, "that the very men
to whom my gratitude is most due are those who seem to avoid me.
Thus--Jones, who gave me his aid upon the trial--"

"Do not speak of him, sir," said Hammond, in a voice of agitation; "he
is one who has sullied an order that has hitherto been almost without
a stain. There is but too much reason to think that he was bribed
to destroy you. His whole line of cross-examination on the trial was
artfully devised to develop whatever might injure you; but the treachery
turned upon the men who planned it. The Attorney General saw it, and the
Court also; it was this saved you."

Cashel sat powerless and speechless at this disclosure. It seemed to
fill up in his mind the cup of iniquity, and he never moved nor uttered
a word as he listened.

"Jones you will never see again. The bar of some other land across the
sea may receive him, but there is not one here would