"Sir," he said, "my hearing is also failing me, for, as you see, I am an old man now, and besides, I have had trouble in my time. Perhaps, sir, I did not hear you aright?"
Then Daniel Mylrea told in few words the story of the priest's accident and death, and how the man at whose house he died had made bold to take the good priest's mission upon himself.
The Bishop listened with visible pain, and for a while said nothing. Then, speaking in a faltering voice, with breath that came quickly, he asked who the other man had been. "For the good man has been a blessing to us," he added, nervously.
To this question there was no reply, and he asked again:
"Who?"
"Myself."
The Bishop lifted with trembling fingers his horn-bridged spectacles to his eyes.
"Your voice is strangely familiar," he said. "What is your name?"
Again there was no answer.
"Give me your name, sir—that I may pray of God to bless you."