d him;
but these were feelings that he cautiously concealed, for he well knew
the touchy and irritable nature of the man, and that whatever little
information could be derived from him was only come-at-able by indulging
his vein of self-esteem.

It had been for years his custom to pay a visit to Fagan on the eve
of any great solemnity, and he was snugly installed in the little
bow-window on the evening of the 26th May, with a goodly array of
glasses and a very formidable square decanter of whiskey on a table in
front of him. Fagan, who never could trust to the indiscreet propensity
of Polly to "quizz" his distinguished friend, had sent her to spend
the day in the country with some acquaintances; Raper was deep in a
difficult passage of Richter, in his own chamber; so that the Grinder
was free to communicate with the great official unmolested and
undisturbed.

Most men carry into private life some little trait or habit of their
professional career. The lawyer is apt to be pert, interrogative,
and dictatorial; the doctor generally distils the tiresomeness of the
patient in his own conversation; the soldier is proverbially pipeclay;
and so perhaps we may forgive our friend Cotterell if his voice, in
speaking, seemed to emulate the proud notes of his favorite instrument,
while his utterance came in short, broken, abrupt bursts,--faint,
but faithful, imitations of his brazen performances in public. He was
naturally not given to talking, so that it is more than probable the
habit of _staccato_ was in itself a great relief to him.

I will not pretend to say that Fagan's patience was not sorely tried as
well by the matter as the manner of his friend. His pursuit of politics
was, indeed, under the greatest of difficulties; but he labored on, and,
like some patient gold-seeker, was satisfied to wash the sand for hours,
rewarded with even a few grains of the precious metal at the end of his
toil.

"Help yourself, Sam. That's the poteen,--this, here, is Kinahan," said
the Grinder, who well knew that until the finish of the third tumbler,
Mr. Cotterell's oracle gave no sound. "Help yourself, and remember you
'll have a fatiguing day to-morrow!"

"A great day,--say rather a great day for Ireland," tolled out the
trumpeter.

"That's to be seen," replied Fagan, caustically. "I have witnessed a
good many of those great days for Ireland, but I 'd be sorely puzzled to
say what has come of them."

"There are three great days for