"That must have been a Unionist," said Meldon.
"Damned lies," said O'Donoghue.
"He was a Unionist," said the judge. "But I met another man in the steamer, also an M.P., who said that, owing to the beneficent action of the Congested Districts Board, Connacht was rapidly becoming a happy and contented part of the empire; that the sympathy with Irish ideas displayed by the present Government was winning the hearts and affections of the people, and—"
"That," said Meldon, "must have been a Nationalist."
"More damned lies," said Dr. O'Donoghue.
"And now," said the judge, "I meet you two gentlemen, one of you a Nationalist and the other a Unionist—"
"Don't call me that," said Meldon; "I'm non-political. Nothing on earth would induce me to mix myself up with any party."
"And you," the judge went on, "after comparing me in the most flattering manner to the poet Milton, tell me that my life won't be safe in Ballymoy. I'm inclined to think that the best thing I can do is to go and find out the truth for myself."
"If it was simply a question of murder," said Meldon, "I should strongly advise you to go on and see the thing through; but what we have in mind is something infinitely worse. Isn't it, O'Donoghue?"
"It is," said the doctor; "far worse."