“Some scoundrel has done it, that’s clear; but what would you have me to do, Hycy?  You are up to life and know the world a great deal better than I do; how ought I to act now?”

“I’ll tell you candidly, my dear Bryan, how I think you ought to act, or at least how I would act myself if I were in your place.”  He then paused for a minute and proceeded:—­“You know I may be wrong, Bryan, but I shall advise you at all events honestly, and to the best of my ability.  I would keep this letter and this note, and by the way, what else can you do?—­I would say nothing whatsoever about it.  The secret, you know, rests with yourself and me, with the exception of the party that sent it.  Now, mark me, I say—­if the party that sent this be a friend, there will be no more about it—­it will drop into the grave; but if it came from an enemy the cry of bribery will be whispered about, and there will be an attack made on your character.  In this case you can be at no loss as to the source from whence the communication came—­Fethertonge will then most assuredly be the man; or, harkee, who knows but the whole thing is an electioneering trick resorted to for the purpose of impugning your vote, and of getting Vanston out on petition and scrutiny.  Faith and honor, Bryan, I think that this last is the true reading.”

“I’m inclined to agree with you there,” replied Bryan, “that looks like the truth; and even then I agree with you still that Fethertonge is at the bottom of it.  Still how am I to act?”

“In either case, Bryan, precisely as I said.  Keep the letter and the bank-note; say nothing about it—­that is clearly your safest plan; do not let them out of your hands, for the time may come when it will be necessary to your own character to show them.”

“Well, then, I will be guided by you, Hycy.  As you say no one knows the secret but yourself and me; if it has come from a friend he will say nothing about it, but if it has come from an enemy it will be whispered about; but at all events I have you as proof that it did not come to me by any bargain of mine.”

Hycy spoke not a word, but clapped him approvingly on the shoulder, as much as to say—­“Exactly so, that is precisely the fact,” and thus ended the dialogue.

We all know that the clearer the mirror the slighter will be the breath necessary to stain it; on the breast of an unsullied shirt the most minute speck will be offensively visible.  So it is with human character and integrity.  Had Bryan M’Mahon belonged to a family of mere ordinary reputation—­to a family who had generally participated in all the good and evil of life, as they act upon and shape the great mass of society, his vote might certainly have created much annoyance to his party for a very brief period—­just as other votes given from the usual motives—­sometimes right and honorable—­sometimes wrong and corrupt—­usually do.  In his case, however, there was something calculated to startle