priest hesitated a moment, while the other looked at him curiously.

"You are not aware, then, that he has provided the money for your
enterprise?" Honora uttered a cry, and Ledwith sprang from his chair in
delighted surprise.

"Do you tell me that?" he shouted. "Honora, Honora, we have found the
right man at last! Oh, I felt a hundred times that this young fellow was
destined to work immense good for me and mine. God bless him forever and
ever."

"Amen," said Honora, rejoicing in her father's joy.

"You know my opinion on these matters, Owen," said Monsignor.

"Ay, indeed, and of all the priests for that matter. Had we no religion
the question of Irish freedom would have been settled long ago. Better
for us had we been pagans or savages. Religion teaches us only how to
suffer and be slaves."

"And what has patriotism done for you?" Monsignor replied without
irritation.

"Little enough, to be sure."

"Now, since I have told you how necessary it is that Dillon should
remain in America, and that his money should not be expended----"

"Monsignor," Ledwith broke in impatiently, "let me say at once you are
asking what you shall not get. I swear to you that if the faith which
you preach depended on getting this young fellow to take back his money
and to desert this enterprise, that faith would die. I want men, and I
shall take the widow's only son, the father of the family, the last hope
of a broken heart. I want money, and I shall take the crust from the
mouth of the starving, the pennies from the poor-box, the last cent of
the poor, the vessels of the altar, anything and everything, for my
cause. How many times has our struggle gone down in blood and shame
because we let our foolish hearts, with their humanity, their faith,
their sense of honor, their ridiculous pride, rule us. I want this man
and his money. I did not seek them, and I shall not play tricks to keep
them. But now that they are mine, no man shall take them from me."

Honora made peace between them, for these were stubborn men, unwilling
to make compromises. Monsignor could give only general reasons. Ledwith
thought God had answered his prayers at last. They parted with equal
determination.

What a welcome Arthur Dillon received from the Ledwiths on his next
visit! The two innocents had been explaining their ideas for years, and
traveling the earth to put them into action; and in all that time had
not met a single soul with confidence enough to inv