at Conroy's conduct. Cahoon refrained from saying that
inexplicable midnight expeditions were not the kind of things they
cared for in Belfast. Even he recognized that a man who had
accumulated as large a fortune as Conroy's must not be judged by
ordinary standards.

I, unfortunately, failed to go to sleep. I tried to read the works of
Alexander Pope, of which I found a well-bound copy in my bedroom. But
my mind only became more active. I got up at last and covered six
sheets of the Castle Affey note paper with a character sketch of
Conroy. I maintained that he was wrong in supposing that a capacity
for daring is the secret of becoming rich. Bob Power, for instance, is
as daring as any man living and certainly loves risk for its own sake,
but Bob will not die a rich man. Nor will Conroy. Wealth falls into
the hands of such men occasionally, as vast hoards of gold did one
hundred and fifty years ago into the holds of pirate ships. But no one
ever heard of a buccaneer who died with a large fortune safely
invested. Before Conroy dies his fortune will have taken to itself
wings and fled back to that goddess of his who gave it. This was the
substance of my article. Marion typed it out for me when I went home,
but neither of the editors who usually print my articles would have
it. I suppose that they did not know Conroy personally. If they had
known him they would have appreciated my character sketch. I called
it, I remember, "Our Contemporary Pirates," a title which ought to
have been attractive.

At three o'clock, just as I was finishing my article, I heard Conroy's
motor on the gravel outside my window.

He appeared at breakfast looking fresh and cheerful. None of us asked
him where he had been the night before, and he did not offer us any
information.

After breakfast he asked me to go for a walk with him. Lady Moyne, who
heard the invitation given, looked pleased, and I recollected at once
that I had promised to interest Conroy in the Unionist cause and lead
him on to the point of giving a large subscription to our funds.

These party funds have always been rather a puzzle to me. I have never
understood why it should be necessary for rich Liberals, rich
Conservatives and American Irishmen to spend enormous sums of money in
persuading people to vote. The theory of democratic government is, I
suppose, that the citizen expresses his opinion freely in a polling
booth. If he has not got an opinion it would surely be bet