"But Ye were! If Ye'd have had the civility to give the deputation a satisfactory answer, or even to have satisfied the fellow-shippers afterwards, or to have made it all right with me so as I could have settled them, then there wouldn't have been all this trouble and unpleasantness, my Lord." "Some men are gifted with an abnormal capability for making the greatest possible fools of themselves. For the credit of the human race, it must be said that indecent exhibitions of this kind are rare. Mr. Sant, does it not occur to you that you are engaging in a very foolish and a very dirty business?" "Dirty business Yersel'! Who're Ye talking to? Ma hands are as clean as Yours any day. Who owes twenty pound notes to this lady I'm brought with me?" "We do not know." "Imphm. Well, suppose I was to say it was Yersel'?" "You would tell an officious lie, Mr. Sant." The Pope turned to the woman. "Madam, do We owe you twenty pounds?" "You owe me a great deal more than that:" she barked. "Mr. Sant alludes to a specific sum of twenty pounds odd which was due to this lady's deceased husband for books, newspapers, and stationery, supplied some years ago when he kept a shop:" the Pope explained to the cardinals, with a gesture to Talacryn. The Cardinal of Caerleon extracted a slip from the portfolio; and read a receipt for the amount named plus 5 per cent. interest. This document was dated the thirty-first of the previous March. The Pope continued, "You know, Madam, that We paid this bill the moment We were in a position to pay it. You also know that payment was long delayed solely because you yourself, by calumniating and libelling Us to Our employers and to those who called themselves Our friends, prevented Us from earning more than a bare sustenance----" Jerry burst in, "Well, if Ye've paid her why shouldn't Ye pay me?" "Because We do not owe you anything." "Then Ye mean me ta pit some more about Ye in the papers?" "Listen, Mr. Sant. We look upon you as a deeply injured man----" "Hech! Now that's something like!" "We look upon you as a deeply injured man, injured by himself. You have been your own enemy. You have suffered loss and damage simply because you have allowed yourself to persist in doing silly things and wicked things. Now, is it useless to ask you to change all that? Will you turn over a new leaf and begin your life again? You shall not be left alone. You shall be helped." "A want ma money." "If you wish to do well for yourself, if you wish honestly to earn a better living than you ever have earned, you shall have the opportunity." An appeal to a goodness which is not in him is, to a vain and sensitive soul, a stinging insult. Jerry's face became wetter and redder. "And fhat about damages for the past?" he barked. "You shall have a chance for the future." "Then Ye willna pay! Ye want me to shew Ye up in the papers again?"