s own brains, and never offer the boy whisky. If you
do this for me, I shall recognise that you are the same good old
Jackson, whom I am proud to call a friend.--Yours sincerely,

"DENIS QUIRK."

As he closed the note and handed it to Tim O'Neill, Molly Healy entered
the office. Like Kathleen O'Connor, she resented Denis Quirk's treatment
of Desmond, and she had come to express her sentiments openly.

"Are you busy?" she asked.

"Not more so than usual; a pile of advertisements and correspondence, a
few proofs to glance at, and a council committee at ten. I can spare you
five minutes," he answered.

"I have not come to talk gently to you," said Molly. "I think you should
be ashamed of yourself for your treatment of Desmond O'Connor."

"Now, Miss Molly, have you considered this question carefully? Just sit
down for five minutes, and hear me explain it to you."

Molly Healy took a chair reluctantly, her face expressing a
determination not to be convinced.

"Desmond O'Connor," he said, and all the while he was stamping and
closing envelopes, "came under the influence of a man----."

"Gerard!" she cried, interrupting him.

"John Gerard. If he had remained here that influence must have ruined
him."

"And could you not separate the two?" she asked.

"Not I, nor you; not even Father Healy. Desmond was gambling, he was
beginning to drink; he would have degenerated into an habitual
drunkard----."

"I as much as told him that myself," said Molly Healy.

"Outside there," he pointed to the window towards the east, "in
Melbourne, lies the boy's chance. It was not for my sake I sent him
packing. That boy was useful to me, and I can never replace him; but
better 'The Mercury' should suffer than he and Kathleen O'Connor."

"Well, you're not a bad sort of man," she remarked. "Your heart's better
than your face."

Denis Quirk laughed heartily at her remark.

"You don't like my face?" he remarked. "Haven't I been called the
ugliest man in Grey Town? And proud I am of it."

"Good-day!" cried Molly Healy. "I will not ruin your paper, after all,
as I had intended doing. But my heart is sore for poor Desmond--out
there."

She, in turn, pointed towards the east before she left the office.

This day was spent by Denis Quirk in fighting. In the council committee
he came into conflict with the man whom he regarded as the greatest
opponent to the progress o