"Billy Mathews, sir," said the other, with difficulty restraining a
smile at the dilapidated look of his interrogator.

"Well, Mathews, keep the Billy for your equals, my good friend. Mathews,
I say, let us have the best your house affords, served in your best room
and in your best manner. If I ate prison fare for nine weeks, sir, it
is no reason that I am not accustomed to something different. My name
is Joseph Curtis, of Meagh-valley House; I sat in Parliament for
eight-and-twenty years, for the borough of Kilternon; and I was tried
for a murder at the last commission. There, sir! it's not every day you
have a guest who can say as much."

As the landlord was moving away to give his orders, Curtis called out
once more:--

"Stay, sir; hear me out. There are spies of the Castle wherever I go.
Who have you here just now? Who's in this house?"

"There's but one gentleman here at present, sir. I've known him these
twenty years, and I 'll vouch for it he's neither a Government spy nor
an informer."

"And who will be satisfied with your guarantee, sir?" cried Curtis,
insolently. "It's not a fellow in your position that can assure the
scruples of a man in mine. Who is he? What's his name?"

"He's a respectable man, sir, well known in Dublin, and the son of one
that held a good position once."

"His name,--his name!" cried Curtis, imperiously.

"It's no matter about his name!" replied the host, sulkily. "He has come
to eat his breakfast here, as he does once or twice a week, and that's
all that I have to say to him."

"But I 'll have his name,--I 'll insist upon it," shouted out Curtis,
in a voice of high excitement; "persecuted and hunted down as I am, I'll
defend myself. Your Castle bloodhounds shall see that Joe Curtis will
not run from them. This gentleman here is the son of MacNaghten of
Greenan. What signifies it to you if he be ruined! What affair is it of
yours, I ask, if he has n't a sixpence in the world?--I'll pay for what
he takes here. I'm responsible for everything. I have two thousand a
year secured on my life,"--he stopped, and seemed to reflect for a
moment, then added,--"that is, I may have it if I please."

MacNaghten made a signal for the innkeeper to serve the breakfast, and
not notice any of the extravagances of his strange companion. Mathews
was about to obey, when Curtis, recurring to his former thought, cried
out,--

"Well, sir, this fellow's name?"

"Tell him who it is," whispered Dan,