Part 12 (1/2)

”Exactly,” said the priest; ”and what is more, I believe they are fond of each other. I know Dan is attached to her, for he told me so.

But, now that we have mentioned her, I say that there is not a more accomplished girl of her persuasion in the parish we sit in. She can play on the bagpipes better than any other piper in the province, for I taught her myself; and I tell you that in a respectable man's wife a knowledge of music is a desirable thing. It's hard to tell, Mrs.

Connell, how they may rise in the World, and get into fas.h.i.+onable company, so that accomplishments, you persave, are good, she can make a s.h.i.+rt and wash it, and she can write Irish. As for dancing, I only wish you'd see her at a hornpipe. All these things put together, along with her genteel connections, and the prospect of what I may be able to lave her--I say your son may do worse.”

”It's not what you'd lave her, sir, but what you'd give her in the first place, that I'd like to hear. Spake up, your Reverence, an' let us know how far you will go.”

”I'm afeard, sir,” said Peter, ”if it goes to a clane bargain atween yez, that Ellish will make you bid up for Dan. Be sharp; sir, or you'll have no chance; faix, you won't.”

”But, Mrs. Connell;” replied the priest, ”before I spake up, consider her accomplishments. I'll undertake to say, that the best bred girl in Dublin cannot perform music in such style, or on such an instrument as the one she uses. Let us contemplate Dan and her after marriage, in an elegant house, and full business, the dinner over, and they gone up to the drawing-room. Think how agreeable and graceful it would be for Mrs.

Daniel O'Connell to repair to the sofa, among a few respectable friends, and, taking up her bagpipes, set her elbow a-going, until the drone gives two or three broken groans, and the chanter a squeak or two, like a child in the cholic, or a cat that you had trampled on by accident.

Then comes the real ould Irish music, that warms the heart. Dan looks upon her graceful position, until the tears of love, taste, and admiration are coming down his cheeks. By and by, the toe of him moves: here another foot is going; and, in no time, there is a hearty dance, with a light heart and a good conscience. You or I, perhaps, drop in to see them, and, of course, we partake of the enjoyment.”

”Divil a pleasanter,” said Peter: ”I tell you, I'd like it well; an', for my own part, if the deludher here has no objection, I'm not goin' to spoil sport.”

Ellish looked hard at the priest; her keen blue eye glittered with a sparkling light, that gave decided proofs of her sagacity being intensely excited.

”All that you've said,” she replied, ”is very fine; but in regard o'

the bag-pipes, an' Miss Granua Mulcahy's squeezin' the music out o'

thim--why, if it plased G.o.d to bring my son to the staff an' bag--a common beggar--indeed, in that case, Miss Granua's bagpipes might sarve both o' thim, an' help, maybe, to get them a night's lodgin' or so; but until that time comes, if you respect your niece, you'll burn her bagpipes, dhrone, chanther, an' all. If you are for a match, which I doubt, spake out, as I said, and say what fortune you'll pay down on the nail wid her, otherwise we're losin' our time, an' that's a loss one can't make up.”

The priest, who thought he could have bantered Ellish into an alliance, without pledging himself to pay any specific fortune, found that it was necessary for him to treat the matter seriously, if he expected to succeed. He was certainly anxious for the match; and as he really wished to see his niece--who, in truth, was an excellent girl, and handsome--well settled, he resolved to make a stretch and secure Dan if possible.

”Mrs. Connell,” said he, ”I will be brief with you. The most I can give her is three hundred pounds, and even that by struggling and borrowing: I will undertake to pay it as you say--on the nail! for I am really anxious that my niece should be connected with so worthy and industrious a family. What do you say?”

”I'm willin' enough,” replied Peter. It's not asy to get that and a Catholic girl.”

”There's some thruth in what you say, aroon, sure enough,” observed Ellish; ”an' if his Reverence puts another hundhre to it, why, in the name of goodness, let them go together. If you don't choose that, Docthor, never breathe the subject to me agin. Dan's not an ould man yit, an' has time enough to get wives in plenty.”

”Come,” replied the priest, ”there's my hand, it's a bargain; although I must say there's no removing you from your point. I will give four hundred, hook or crook; but I'll have sad scrambling to get it together.

Still I'll make it good.”

”Down on the nail?” inquired Ellish.

”Ay! ay! Down on the nail,” replied the priest.

”Well, in the name o' Goodness, a bargain be it,” said Peter; ”but, upon my credit, Ellish, I won't have the bag-pipes burnt, anyhow. Faith, I must hear an odd tune, now an' thin, when I call to see the childhre.”

”Pether, acushla, have sinse. Would you wish to see your daughter-in-law playin' upon the bag-pipes, when she ought to be mindin' her business, or attendin' her childhre? No, your Reverence, the pipes must be laid aside. I'll have no pipery connection for a son of mine.”

The priest consented to this, although Peter conceded it with great reluctance. Further preliminaries were agreed upon, and the evening pa.s.sed pleasantly, until it became necessary for Mr. Mulcahy to bid them good-night.

When they were gone, Peter and Ellish talked over the matter between themselves in the following dialogue:

”The fortune's a small one,” said Ellish to her husband; ”an' I suppose you wondher that I consinted to take so little.”

”Sure enough, I wondhered at it,” replied Peter, ”but, for my own part, I'd give my son to her widout a penny o' fortune, in ordher to be connected wid the priest; an' besides, she's a fine, handsome, good girl--ay, an' his fill of a wife, if she had but the s.h.i.+ft to her back.”

”Four hundhre wid a priest's niece, Pether, is before double the money wid any other. Don't you know, that when they set up for themselves, he can bring the custom of the whole parish to them? It's unknown the number o' ways he can sarve them in. Sure, at stations an' weddins, wakes, marriages, and funerals, they'll all be proud to let the priest know that they purchased whatever they wanted from his niece an' her husband. Betther!--faix, four hundhre from him is worth three times as much from another.”

”Glory to you, Ellis.h.!.+--bright an' cute for ever! Why, I'd back you for a woman' that could buy an' sell Europe, aginst the world. Now, isn't it odd that I never think of these long-headed skames?”