Mahony liked to believe that there was good in everybody, and thought the intolerant harshness which the boy was subjected would defeat its end.

Yet it was open to question if clemency would have answered better.

"Bad eggs, the brace of them!" had been his own verdict, after a week's trial of the lads.

One would not, the other apparently could not work.

Johnny, the elder, was dull and liverish from intemperance; and the round-faced adolescent, the news of whose fatherhood had raced the wind, was so sheep-faced, so craven, in the presence of his elders, that he could not say bo to a battledore.