with the property in it, is worth five times the amount of the
execution.'

"'Yes, but you forget,' replied the leading ruffian, 'that property
under an execution isn't to be judged by its real value. In general it
doesn't bring one-tenth, no, nor one-fifteenth of its true value, when
auctioned out, as it will be, under a writ.'

"'Ay, by Jabers,' said another of them, 'an' what's better still, you
forget that your lease is expired, and that Lord Cumber has sent over
word for you not to get a renewal--nor Harman either.'

"'Is this true?' I inquired of Father Roche; 'do you imagine it to be
possible?'

"'That fellow is bad authority for anything,' he replied, 'but I fear
that in this Point, he is too correct. However, let us ask M'Loughlin
himself, who, certainly, has the best right to know.'

"This I resolved on, not because I was ignorant of the fact, which
you know I had from M'Clutchy himself, but that I might ascertain that
gentleman's mode of transacting business, and his fairness towards Lord
Cumber's tenants.

"'What this man says, Mr. M'Loughlin, surely cannot be possible--does he
mean to assert that Lord Cumber refused to renew your lease, although
he must be aware that you have expended in the erection of this fine
manufactory a sum not less, I should suppose, than five or six thousand
pounds.'

"'Seven thousand six hundred,' replied the old man, setting me right,
'nearly four thousand between Harman and us.'

"'But he does not refuse to renew your leases certainly?'

"'No,' said M'Loughlin, 'I cannot say that he does; but we have not been
able to get anything like a distinct reply from him on the subject--and,
as far as reports go, they are certainly not in our favor. We have
written to Lord Cumber himself, and the only reply we could obtain was,
that he had placed the whole matter in the hands of M'Clutchy, in whose
justice and integrity, he said, he had the highest confidence, and that
consequently we must abide by his decision. My own impression is, that
he is determined to ruin us, which he certainly will, should he refuse
us a renewal.'

"'There can be no doubt about it,' said the eldest son, 'nor that his
management of the estate and his general administration of justice are
woefully one-sided.'

"'I don't choose to hear Mr. M'Clutchy abused,' said the leading fellow,
who, in truth, was one of his blood-hounds, as were all the rest, with
one exception only, 'nor I won't hear him abused.