e home earlier than he was looked
for, and was at once informed of the important revelation which Mr.
Magee proposed to make for a "consideration." Doubtful what course to
pursue, he hurried into the village to consult with Molly's first
friends, the Raeburns. The consequence of this consultation was, that
the next morning, when Patrick Magee appeared at the farm-house, he was
confronted, not alone by Mr. Morton, but by Mr. Raeburn and the sheriff
of the county. Taking these as mere witnesses, however, he was not
abashed, but greeted all with a jaunty air, and the old Irish
expression, "The top of the morning to ye, gintlemen."

On Mr. Morton referring to the secret he had to reveal, he said, with
the utmost assurance, "Well, Mr. Morton, I 've slept on that same
matter, and I 've concluded that I can't in conscience consint to
blacken the memory of the late Mrs. Magee for less nor a _hundred
dollars_. And sure, your honors, a rale live father and mother, rich
and respectable, are chape at that, to say nothing of the reputation of
a poor, hard-working woman, that's dead and gone, and can't defind
herself."

"These, Mr. Magee, are the best terms you offer, then?" asked the
farmer.

"Yes; but if you don't close the bargain immadiately, I may rise a
trifle. I 've been too aisy, on account of poor Molly. My feelings
are too much for me."

"Then, Mr. Sheriff," said Mr. Morton, "you must do your duty."

So Patrick Magee found himself again in the stern grasp of the law. He
was taken to a magistrate's office for examination, but there he
obstinately refused to reveal a word of the important secret, saying he
would die first. So he was committed to the county jail, there to
await his trial on a charge of kidnapping.

For more than a week the prisoner remained sullenly silent, while poor
Molly suffered agonies of suspense, and her friends were fearful that
for lack of sufficient evidence the villain might yet escape justice,
carrying his secret with him.

But at last he yielded,--subdued, not by hard fare, hard words, or
solitude, but by the mad thirst of the inebriate. Since leaving the
penitentiary he had been drinking very hard, and now, being suddenly
deprived of all stimulants, his spirits sunk, his strength and appetite
failed, and he was threatened with the terrible disease of the
intemperate,--_delirium tremens_.

Being told by the doctor that he thought Magee must have some brandy,
Mr. Raeburn paid a