Page:Glenarvon (Volume 2).djvu/18

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assured the Duke, that he had no sort of influence with the young Lord. "Read these papers, at your leisure," said the Duke: "they are statements, you will find, of a number of outrages committed by himself and his followers, on people highly respectable and utterly defenceless. For the common follies of youth, there is much excuse; but nothing can palliate repeated acts of licentious wickedness and unprovoked cruelty. I am inclined to believe these accounts are much exaggerated; but the list of grievances is large; and the petitioners for redress are many of them my most worthy and long-tried servants, at the head of whom O'Flarney's name is to be found."

"No, my Lord,—mine is at the head of the list," cried the doctor; "and in every other part of it, no injuries can be equal to mine. What are barns, pigs, firearms, compared to a father's wrongs—a husband's injuries. Ah, consider my case first. Restore Miss St. Clare, and I'll