"
"As to myself," continued Chevydale, "I fear I have much to repair in
my conduct as an Irish landlord. I have been too confiding and easy--in
fact, I have not thought for myself; but been merely good or evil,
according to the caprice of the man who managed me, and whom, up until
now, I did not suspect."
"The man, my good friend, is probably not worse in general than others,"
replied Vanston; "but the truth is, that there has been such a laxity
of management in Irish property--such indifference and neglect upon our
part, and such gross ignorance of our duties, that agents were, and in
most cases are, at liberty to act as they please in our names, and under
show of our authority; you can scarcely suppose this man, consequently,
much worse than others who are placed in similar circumstances."
The dialogue was here interrupted by the entrance of old Clinton and his
nephew; but, as our readers are already in possession of the proofs they
brought against Hycy Burke and Fethertonge, it is not necessary that we
should detail there conversation at full length.
"I must confess," said Clinton, "that I would have some reason to feel
ashamed of my part in the transactions with respect to Ahadarra, were it
not, in the first place, that I have never been much afflicted with the
commodity; and, in the next, that these transactions are too common to
excite any feeling one way or the other.
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