"'Billy, would a little money be of any avail?'
"'Why, my dear fellow, thirty pounds would put an end to it altogether.'
"'Thirty pounds! Don't say another word. Here's the money. I depend on you that all will be right.'
"The magistrates[21] entered, and Billy Hall immediately proceeded to express his great gratification that it would not be necessary, or indeed possible, to go any further with the charge then pending before them. 'In fact,' said he, 'it is impossible to continue the prosecution, for the respectable gentleman, whose name was alleged to have been forged, has paid the bill, and it is now my duty to have it handed over to him in your worship's presence.'
"A bill of exchange was delivered, in compliance with Hall's direction, to Patrick Brophy, who found his name written as drawer upon it, in a manner closely resembling his own signature. Evidently surprised, he exclaimed that he thought he had been sent for on another matter.
"'What other matter, sir?' inquired Major Sirr.
"'Oh, nothing, nothing, sir,' said the enraged but fearful Brophy, who felt that an explanation, which would relieve him from the loss just incurred, might involve his brother Maurice in an accusation of dreadful import. 'Perhaps,' said a peace-officer, 'the gentleman knows something about a spade which we have below. We stopped a young vagabond pledging it on the Coombe, and it appears quite new. There was a name and direction on the handle, but the fellow scraped it almost entirely out. We have found, however, on inquiry in Kennedy's Lane, that this gentleman bought such a spade at Bryan Murphy's, yesterday.'
"'That spade,' said Brophy, 'is gone from Dublin. It was bought for a friend, and is forty miles away by this time.'
"'Then, what other business were you thinking of?" resumed the inquisitive Major.