“And what's more,” continued the old man, energetically, “I'd pay the debt off to his children and his children's children with interest, if I could.”
Still was the other silent; and the old man looked angry that he had not succeeded in stimulating the curiosity he had declared he would not gratify.
“Fate has done the work already, sir,” said Dunn, gravely. “Look where we are, and where they!”
“That 's true,—that's true; we have a receipt in full for it all; but I 'd like to show it to him. I 'd like to say to him, 'Mr. Kellett, once upon a time, when my son there was a child—'”
“Father, father, these memories can neither make us wiser nor happier,” broke in Dunn, in a voice of deep emotion. “Had I taken upon me to carry through life the burden of resentments, my back had been broken long ago; and from your own prudent counsels I learned that this could never lead to success. The men whom destiny has crushed are like bankrupt debtors, and to pursue them is but to squander your own resources.”
The old man sat moodily, muttering indistinctly to himself, and evidently little moved by the words he had listened to.
“Are you going away already?” cried he, suddenly, as Dunn rose from his chair.
“Yes, sir; I have a busy day before me to-morrow, and need some sleep to prepare for it.”
“What will you be doing to-morrow, Davy?” asked the old man, while a bright gleam of pride lighted up his eyes and illuminated his whole face.
“I have deputations to receive,—half a dozen, at least. The Drainage Commission, too, will want me, and I must contrive to have half an hour for the Inland Navigation people; then the Attorney-General will call about these prosecutions, and I have not made up my mind about them; and the Castle folk will need some clew to my intentions about the new Secretary; there are some twenty provincial editors, besides, waiting for directions, not to speak of private and personal requests, some of which I must not refuse to hear. As to letters, three days won't get through them; so that you see, father, I do need a little rest beforehand.”