“I didn’t know the amount; but I believe she has half whatever there is.”
“Exactly: half the land, half the cash, half the house, half everything, except the debts! and those were contracted in my name, and I must pay them all. Isn’t that hard, Mr Daly?”
“I didn’t know your father had debts.”
“Oh, but he had—debts which ought to have been his; though, as I said, they stand in my name, and I must pay them.”
“And, I suppose, what you now want is to saddle the debts on the entire property? If you can really prove that the debts were incurred for your father’s benefit, I should think you might do that. But has your sister refused to pay the half? They can’t be heavy. Won’t Miss Lynch agree to pay the half herself?”
This last lie of Barry’s—for, to give the devil his due, old Sim hadn’t owed one penny for the last twenty years—was only a bright invention of the moment, thrown off by our injured hero to aggravate the hardships of his case; but he was determined to make the most of it.
“Not heavy?—faith, they are heavy, and d–– ––d heavy too, Mr Daly!—what’ll take two hundred a-year out of my miserable share of the property; divil a less. Oh! there’s never any knowing how a man’ll cut up till he’s gone.”
“That’s true; but how could your father owe such a sum as that, and no one know it? Why, that must be four or five thousand pounds?”
“About five, I believe.”
“And you’ve put your name to them, isn’t that it?”