r boy, my dear boy, I am obliged to tell you. It is
necessary that you should know it. The fact is as I say, and it is
now for you to show that you are a man."

Who was ever called upon for a stronger proof of manhood than this?
In nine cases out of ten it is not for oneself that one has to be
brave. A man, we may almost say, is no man, whose own individual
sufferings call for the exercise of much courage. But we are all so
mixed up and conjoined with others--with others who are weaker and
dearer than ourselves, that great sorrows do require great powers of
endurance.

By degrees, as he stood there in silence, the whole truth made its
way into his mind,--as he stood there with his arm still tenderly
pressed by that old man. No one now would have called the lawyer
stern in looking at him, for the tears were coursing down his cheeks.
But no tears came to the relief of young Fitzgerald as the truth
slowly came upon him, fold by fold, black cloud upon cloud, till the
whole horizon of his life's prospect was dark as death. He stood
there silent for some few minutes hardly conscious that he was not
alone, as he saw all his joys disappearing from before his mind's
eye, one by one; his family pride, the pleasant high-toned duties of
his station, his promised seat in Parliament and prosperous ambition,
the full respect of all the world around him, his wealth and pride of
place--for let no man be credited who boasts that he can part with
these without regret. All these were gone. But there were losses more
bitter than these. How could he think of his affianced bride? and how
could he think of his mother?

No tears came to his relief while the truth, with all its bearings,
burnt itself into his very soul, but his face expressed such agony
that it was terrible to be seen. Mr. Prendergast could stand that
silence no longer, so at last he spoke. He spoke,--for the sake of
words; for all his tale had been told.

"You saw the man that was here yesterday? That was he, who then
called himself Talbot."

"What! the man that went away in the car? Mollett?"

"Yes; that was the man."

Herbert had said that no evidence could be sufficient to make him
believe that his mother had been in any way culpable: and such
probably was the case. He had that reliance on his mother--that
assurance in his mind that everything coming from her must
be good--that he could not believe her capable of ill. But,
nevertheless, he could not prevent himself