e; being a moral debt, however, I enjoyed the privilege
of paying it at once, and in full; which I did thus: I had often
remarked that my father arose at night and left the cabin, crossing a
little garden behind the house to a little shed, where our pig and an
ass lived in harmony together; and here, by dint of patient observation,
I discovered that his occupation lay in the thatch of the aforesaid
shed, in which he seemed to conceal some object of value.

Thither I now repaired, some secret prompting suggesting that it might
afford me the wished-for means of vengeance. My disappointment was
indeed great that no compact roll of bank-notes, no thick woollen
stocking close packed with guineas, or even crown-pieces, met my hand.
A heavy bundle of papers and parchment was all I could find; and
these bore such an unhappy family resemblance to the cause of all my
misfortunes that I was ready to tear them to pieces in very spite. A
mere second's reflection suggested a better course. There was a certain
attorney in Kilbeggan, one Morissy, my father's bitterest enemy; indeed,
my parent's influence in the Session court had almost ruined and left
him without a client. The man of law and precedents in vain struggled
against decisions which a secret and irresponsible adviser contrived
beforehand, and Morissy's knowledge and experience were soon discovered
to be valueless. It was a game in which skill went for nothing.

This gentleman's character at once pointed him out as the fitting agent
of vengeance on my father, and by an hour after daybreak did I present
myself before him in all the consciousness of my injured state.

Mr. Morissy's reception of me was not over gracious.

"Well, ye spawn of the devil," said he, as he turned about from a small
fragment of looking-glass, before which he was shaving, "what brings ye
here? Bad luck to ye; the sight of ye's made me cut myself."

"I'm come, sir, for a bit of advice, sir," said I, putting my hand to my
hat in salutation.

"Assault and battery!" said he, with a grin on the side of his mouth
where the soap had been shaved away.

"Yes, sir; an aggravated case," said I, using the phrase of the
Sessions.

"Why don't ye apply to yer father? He's Crown lawyer and
Attorney-General; faith, he 's more besides,--he 's judge and jury too."

"And more than that in the present suit, sir," says I, following up his
illustration; "he's the defendant here."

"What! is that his doing?"

"Yes