. He was glad that none of
them were invited to accompany him, for he felt that his father was
more prone to believe him, than were either his sisters or even his
brother. "Florian," said his father, "you know, do you not, the
trouble to which I have been put about this man, Pat Carroll?"

"Yes, father; I know you have."

"And the terrible loss which I have incurred! Eighty acres are under
water. I suppose the miscreant will have cost me between L400 and
L500."

"As much as that?" said Florian, frightened by the magnitude of the
sum named.

"Indeed he will. It is hard to calculate the extent of the malignity
of a wicked man. Whether the barony will share the loss with me I
cannot yet say; but in either case the wickedness will be the same.
There is no word bad enough for it. It is altogether damnable;
and this is done by a man who calls me in question because of my
religion." Here the father paused, but Florian stood by without an
answer. If Pat Carroll was right in his religion, his father must be
wrong; and Florian thought that Pat Carroll was right. But he did
not see how the two things were joined together,--the opening of the
sluices, and the truth of Pat Carroll's religious convictions. "But
bad as the matter is as regards Pat Carroll, it is all as nothing in
reference to the accusation made against you." Here the father came
up, and laying his two hands on the boy's shoulders looked sadly into
his face. "I cannot believe that my own boy, my darling boy, has
joined in this evil deed against me!" Here the father ceased and
waited for his son to speak.

The son remembered the determination to which he had come, and
resolved to adhere to it. "I didn't," he said after a pause.

"I cannot believe it of you; and yet, your sisters who are as true as
steel, who are so good that I bless God morning and night that He in
His mercy has left me such treasures,--they believe it."

"They are against me because of my religion."

"No, Florian, not so; they disapprove of your change in religion, but
they are not brought to accuse you by such a feeling. They say that
they see it in your face."

"How can they see all that in my face?"

"That though you are lying persistently, you cannot hide from them
that you are lying. They are not only good girls, but they have very
sharp wits. A cleverer girl than Edith, or one better able to read
the truth of a boy's head, or even a man's, I have never known. I
hardly dare to put m