om the gig and entered the house
side by side, noting that here, too, were signs of decay and of neglect.

Kathleen emerged from the dining-room to greet them. In her face she
still bore traces of recent tears, for she was a woman, and grief was
not so easily forgotten by her as by her brother.

"Mr. Brown is waiting for you in the dining-room," she said, after the
first greetings.

"Ebenezer Brown?" said the doctor, as if to turn back. "What brings him
here?"

"Just the same errand as yours," cried a harsh voice from the
dining-room. "To mourn over the man you killed."

A dry cackle followed the speech. But no one heeded what Ebenezer Brown
said, so notorious was he in the town for a love of money and a bitter
tongue. The doctor accepted the speech as a challenge, and entered the
room defiantly, while Father Healy followed him.

"You didn't expect to find me here," said the old man, who sat in an
armchair, a thin, stooped figure, with a pallid face and white hair.

"We did not," replied the priest.

The doctor murmured something about vultures and the dead.

"Eh?" asked the old man, feigning a convenient deafness, "I might expect
you and the priest; the one generally prepares the way for the other."

"I am expecting it will be a difficult meeting," murmured the priest.

Dr. Marsh, however, made no reply to the remark. He was awaiting a
convenient time to lunge at his enemy, and he sat down opposite Ebenezer
Brown, regarding him critically. After a moment's pause, he asked:

"Are your affairs in order, Brown?"

"Mind your own business, sub-dividing men into small allotments,"
snapped the other.

"I should arrange everything if I were you. Your money won't buy you a
passport," said the doctor. "Increase your subscription to the hospital
from threepence to sixpence, and lower your rents to twice what they
should be, before it is too late. Your time will come before long."

"You won't get a penny of my money, living or dead," replied Ebenezer
Brown.

"That shows you have a little wisdom remaining, for I would poison you,
and believe I was performing an act of public utility."

"Let us get to business," cried the priest, anxious to terminate the
wrangle. "Dr. Marsh and I am here to discuss what is to be done with
Michael O'Connor's children."

"I am here to help the children," said Ebenezer. "Not with money," he
added hastily, "but with sound advice."

"The only thing you ever gave away," commented th