"
"That is all very well; but you need not deny that you wrote me the
letter. Let me ask you seriously, what was it you warned me against?"
"_Propino tibi salulem_--here's to you. No, but let me ask you what you
are at, Mr. Hycy? You may have resaved an anonymous letter, but I am
ignorant why you should paternize it upon me."
"Why, because it has all the marks and tokens of you."
"Eh?--to what does that amount? Surely you know my handwriting?"
"Perfectly; but this is disguised evidently."
"Faith," said the other, laughing, "maybe the inditer of it was
disguised when he wrote it."
"It might be," replied Hycy; "however, take your liquor, and in the mean
time I shall feel exceedingly obliged to you, Mr. Finigan, if you will
tell me the truth at once--whether you wrote it or whether you did
not?"
"My response again is in the negative," replied Finigan--"I disclaim it
altogether. I am not the scribe, you may rest assured of it, nor can I
say who is."
"Well, then," said Hycy, "I find I must convict you yourself of the
fabulous at least; read that," said he, placing the letter in his own
hands. "Like a true Irishman you signed your name unconsciously; and now
what have you to say for yourself?"
"Simply," replied the other, "that some knave, of most fictitious
imagination, has forged my name to it.
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