“I have seen this before, Mr. Cashel. You are aware that I already gave you my opinion as to its value?”
“I am not aware of that,” said Roland, calmly. “Fray, in whose possession did you see it, and what does it mean?”
Hammond seemed confused for a few seconds; and then, as if overcoming a scruple, said,—
“We must both be explicit here, sir. This document was shown to me by Mr. Linton, at Limerick, he alleging that it was at your desire and by your request. As to its import, it simply means that you hold your present estates without a title; that document being a full pardon, revoking the penalty of confiscation against the heirs of Miles Corrigan, and reinstating them and theirs in their ancient possessions. Now, sir, may I ask, do you hear this for the first time?”
Roland nodded in acquiescence; his heart was too full for utterance, and the sudden revulsion of his feeling had brought a sickly sensation over him.
“Mr. Linton,” resumed Hammond, “in showing me this deed, spoke of a probable alliance between you and the granddaughter of Mr. Corrigan; and I freely concurred in the propriety of a union which might at once settle the difficulty of a very painful litigation. He promised me more full information on the subject, and engaged me to make searches for a registry, if such existed, of the pardon; but I heard nothing more from him, and the matter escaped my memory till this moment.”
“So that all this while I have been dissipating that which was not mine,” said Roland, with a bitterness of voice and manner that bespoke what he suffered.
“You have done what some thousands have done, are doing, and will do hereafter,—enjoyed possession of that which the law gave you, and which a deeper research into the same law may take away.”
“And Linton knew this?”
“He certainly knew my opinion of this document; but am I to suppose that you were ignorant of it up to this moment?”