isper the name.

Mr. Kennedy, as Phineas entered, slowly rose from his chair, putting
down the Bible which had been in his hands. He did not speak at once,
but looked at his visitor over the spectacles which he wore. Phineas
thought that he was even more haggard in appearance and aged than
when they two had met hardly three months since at Loughlinter. There
was no shaking of hands, and hardly any pretence at greeting. Mr.
Kennedy simply bowed his head, and allowed his visitor to begin the
conversation.

"I should not have come to you on such a day as this, Mr. Kennedy--"

"It is a day very unfitted for the affairs of the world," said Mr.
Kennedy.

"Had not the matter been most pressing in regard both to time and its
own importance."

"So the woman told me, and therefore I have consented to see you."

"You know a man of the name of--Slide, Mr. Kennedy?" Mr. Kennedy
shook his head. "You know the editor of the _People's Banner_?" Again
he shook his head. "You have, at any rate, written a letter for
publication to that newspaper."

"Need I consult you as to what I write?"

"But he,--the editor,--has consulted me."

"I can have nothing to do with that."

"This Mr. Slide, the editor of the _People's Banner_, has just been
with me, having in his hand a printed letter from you, which,--you
will excuse me, Mr. Kennedy,--is very libellous."

"I will bear the responsibility of that."

"But you would not wish to publish falsehood about your wife, or even
about me."

"Falsehood! sir; how dare you use that word to me? Is it false to say
that she has left my house? Is it false to say that she is my wife,
and cannot desert me, as she has done, without breaking her vows, and
disregarding the laws both of God and man? Am I false when I say that
I gave her no cause? Am I false when I offer to take her back, let
her faults be what they may have been? Am I false when I say that her
father acts illegally in detaining her? False! False in your teeth!
Falsehood is villainy, and it is not I that am the villain."

"You have joined my name in the accusation."

"Because you are her paramour. I know you now;--viper that was warmed
in my bosom! Will you look me in the face and tell me that, had
it not been for you, she would not have strayed from me?" To this
Phineas could make no answer. "Is it not true that when she went with
me to the altar you had been her lover?"

"I was her lover no longer, when she once told me that she