d
flatterer, not deficient in that sort of sharpness which made him a
successful attorney in a small provincial town, and he could be a
jovial companion, when called on to take that part. Principle had
never stood much in his way, and he had completely taught himself
to believe that what was legal was right; and he knew how to
stretch legalities to the utmost. As a convert, Mr. Keegan was very
enthusiastically attached to the Protestant religion and the Tory
party, for which he had fought tooth and nail at the last county
election.

Mr. Keegan boasted a useful kind of courage; he cared but little for
the ill name he had acquired by his practice in the country among the
poorer classes, and to do him justice, had shown pluck enough in the
dangerous duties which he sometimes had to perform; for he acted as
agent to the small properties of some absentee landlords, and for a
man of his character such duties in County Leitrim were not at that
time without risk. He had been shot at, had once been knocked off his
horse, and had received various threatening letters; but it always
turned out that he discovered the aggressor, and prosecuted and
convicted him. One man he had transported for life; in the last case,
the man who had shot at him was hung; and consequently the people
began to be afraid of Mr. Keegan.

Our friend was fond of popularity, and was consequently a bit of a
sportsman, as most Connaught attorneys are. He had the shooting of
two or three bogs, kept a good horse or two, went to all the country
races, and made a small book on the events of the Curragh. These
accomplishments all had their effect, and as I said before, Mr.
Keegan was successful. In appearance he was a large, burly man,
gradually growing corpulent, with a soft oily face, on which there
was generally a smile; and well for him that there was, for though
his smile was not prepossessing, and carried the genuine stamp of
deceit, it concealed the malice, treachery, and selfishness which
his face so plainly bore without it. His eyes were light, large,
and bright, but it was that kind of brightness which belongs to an
opaque, and not to a transparent body--they never sparkled; his mouth
was very large, and his lip heavy, and he carried a huge pair of
brick-coloured whiskers. His dress was somewhat dandified, but it
usually had not a few of the characteristics of a horse jockey; in
age he was about forty-five. His wife was some years his senior; he
had ma