"He will be a long time getting there," sneered Ebenezer Brown.
Father Healy offered no reply. He had not come to quarrel, and where was the use? But Dr. Marsh answered quickly:
"You may sneer now, Ebenezer Brown—it is easy to do that—but the day will come when you will be asking Father Healy to help you, for he is as certain to be saved as you to be lost."
This defence came as a surprise to everyone present, perhaps most of all to the priest. The doctor was accustomed to scold and taunt him; this unexpected championship almost took his breath away. Ebenezer Brown was too greatly annoyed even to retort, but he glanced vindictively at the doctor.
"And now for Kathleen. Mrs. Quirk would like to have her at Layton as a companion and friend," said the priest.
"Friend!" grunted the doctor. "Quirk was a grocer."
"And where is the harm in that?" asked Father Healy, "if he were honest?"
"Honest?" commented Ebenezer Brown. "There never was an honest grocer; they all put sand in their sugar, and sell their second-rate goods as the best quality. I know them."
"Set a thief to catch a thief," cried the doctor. "How did you make your money?"
"Honestly! Not as you did, by poisoning your rich patients after they have left you a legacy," replied Ebenezer Brown.