"Would you be able to interfere in behalf of my friend while the trial was on, say, just before the summing up, when the informers had sworn to one thing, and the witnesses for the defense to another, if they are not shut out altogether?"
"Impossible. I might as well interfere now."
"Then on the score of sentiment. Ledwith is failing into age. Even a brief term in prison may kill him."
"He took the risk in returning to Ireland at this time. I would be willing to aid him on that score, but it would open the door to a thousand others, and we are unwilling to embarrass the English government at a trying moment."
"Were they so considerate when our moments were trying and they could embarrass us?"
"That is an Irish argument."
"What they said of your Excellency in New York was true, I am inclined to believe: that you accepted the English mission to be of use to the English in the present insurrection."
"Well," said the Minister, laughing in spite of himself at the audacity of Arthur, "you will admit that I have a right to pay back the Irish for my defeat at the polls."
"You are our representative and defender," replied Arthur gravely, "and yet you leave us no alternative but to appeal to the English themselves."
Livingstone began to look bored, because irritation scorched him and had to be concealed. Arthur rose.