"I supposed as much as that, if you please, sir."

"And any questions that I may ask you, I ask altogether on his
behalf--on his behalf and on that of his wife, Lady Fitzgerald. I
tell you, that you may have no scruples as to answering me."

"Oh, sir, I have no scruples as to that. But of course, sir, in
anything I say I must be guided by--by--"

"By your own judgment, you were going to say."

"Yes, sir; begging pardon for mentioning such a thing to the likes
of you, sir."

"Quite right; quite right. Everybody should use their own judgment
in everything they do or say, more or less. But now, Mrs. Jones, I
want to know this: you remember her ladyship's first marriage, I
dare say."

"Yes, sir, I remember it," said Mrs. Jones, shaking her head.

"It was a sad affair, wasn't it? I remember it well, though I was
very young then. So were you too, Mrs. Jones."

"Young enough, surely, sir; and foolish enough too. We were the most
of us that, then, sir."

"True, true; so we were. But you remember the man, don't you--her
ladyship's husband? Mr. Talbot, he called himself." And Mr.
Prendergast took some trouble to look as though he did not at all