, 1889-04-03

n1G WGIE EAubb w ~ AO
The third aireal person. He seemed rath.
ar Droud Of his skill, and by encOurag-
ING this weakness | got everything out
~ him. asked him now Houston could
have been so easily fooled, ami whether he
was an abolutp idIOta he replied that no
was clever up to a point, but Thought
himself twice as clever as hr vas, anu
that these sort of persons are easily trap
ned. In this ] agreed with him. AND ne
told ME that Houston had told him that
he wanted letters, because 1t was intended
t. publish a pamphlet, and that the letters
were to be held in reserve TO De sprung
upOn tie Court. if there was an acll0n Ior
libel, adding that such an action wOnEh ne
certain not to he brought. H0nstOll' ne
said. had promised that in no case wOuId
Irs name come out. and no one had been
more surprised than he was when the fac
simile letter appeared in the Times. Even
attbr this Houston had assured him that
the Times did not know his name, aud ne
Ara, learnt that it had been revealed when
Houston took him to Mr.. SOameS.
Again and again, with weary iteration,
he calnp back 10 his plan to confess IN
writing and then 10 go to Australia. L
told him that he surely must he sharp
. euourh to see TO TlIat accusations TINS
would subject me, and how huIttul IT
wouId be to our case, which | assured him
WAS Of such strength that 1t wOuid SMASH
HIM. quite irrespective Of anything he
might say or do. "W ny, then, do you
want documentsf" he said. "BecauSe, l
replied, 'rhe issue is u political one. We
have to deal with prrjudiced Tories VINO
have already compromised themselves ny
Dinuing themselves 10 the genuineness of
the letters, and consequently our case eau
not he too much strengthened. with
such people you must put butter on bacon
"What documents do You want !" he ASK
ed. sIEuan'S letters : the original sigma
lures from which You traced those OF Egan
and Parnell and "a few letters forged IN
nv presence" | said, 81 have not got
Bgan'h let er%, ! destroyed them. l have
not got the signatures gave Houston
the letter of ParneIl from which 1 took
his signature. will. If you, like forge the
: letters in your presence. | will give you
the names of the three men from WHOM l
told Houston l got the letters, and 1 VIII
give YOU the letters that Houston wrote To
me-" be- answered. | said that would
not give sixpencp for these without the
Two items that | had mentioned. and he
reiterated that he had not got them.
"Why." / suddenly said to him, "dld you
write to Archbishop Walsh about the let
tersao THE Archbishop" he replied, has
not kOt my letters he sent me them ali
back. To reveal anything concerning
them would I've to violate the confidence
between - priest and a penitent." "Weii,"
finished by saying, "think it over. l ain
gong out OF town. When | return come
and see me again, ami in the meanwhile try
and Had tn" originals of EgIn'S letters.
! will let you know when | come back
He said that he would think it over, on
wishing him "good night | asked him
what he contemplated dong. De said
that he was in u trrrible mess, but that
he saw no other course for him but to go
into the box and swear that he had
bought the letters, and that if they were
fOfgeries he had cen deceived. lyon
will he a fool if you do" | said " but
that is your affair, not mine. If l were in
your place I should tell the truth, and ask
for the indemnity" "That is all very
we'll" he said, i" but or what am l to
livef" And so we parted.
When ! returned TO London / wrote to
him in Dublin to tell him so, and he repli-
ed that be would cbme over to see me.
: / appointed an evening, and sent him &lO
for his travelling expenses. A day or two
later lie sent me the gl0 back, in q note
stating that, as now it. was clear he must
go into the box, further interviews were
Useless. BY this time / had picked up all
: thaEI wanted to know, whilst In respect
a. eLo ~.::~oI, IS E.nufs G~nftu hn6