"I just thought I'd bring it myself," she said. "I'd be afeard of my life to let Minnie handle it. Dear knows, but she'd set herself on fire, or mebbe the house, an' that'd be a nice thing, an' a new mistress comin' to it. Will I put it down here by your elbow?" "Anywhere, Hannah!" he answered. "I'll just rest it here then, where it'll not be too strong for your eyes. Yon ought to have the electric light put in the house. Major Cairnduff has it in his house, an' it's not half the size of this one.... Will I get you something?" "No, thank you, Hannah!" "A taste of some thin' to ate, mebbe, or a sup to drink?" "Nothing, thank you!" She went over to the fire. "Dear bless us," she said, "that's no sort of a fire at all. What come over you, to let it get that low!" "I didn't notice it, Hannah!" "'Deed an' I don't suppose you did ... moidherin' your mind about one thing an' another! There'll be a different story to tell when the mistress comes home. Mark my words, there will! Dear, oh, dear, oh, dear!..." 5 "I'm going to Belfast to-night, Hannah," he said when he had been at home a few weeks. "I want to catch an early train to Dublin to-morrow." "Yes," she said. "When I come back, I shall bring my wife with me!" "God bless us and save us," she exclaimed, "it'll be quare to think of you with a wife, an' it on'y the other day since you were a child, an' me skelpin' you for provokin' me. Well, I'll have the house ready for yous both when you come!" "Will you tell Matier to harness the horse...." "I'll tell him this minute. That man's near demented mad at the thought of you marryin'. 'Be the hokey O!' he says whenever I go a-near him, an' then he starts laughin' an' tellin' me it's the great news altogether. 'I wish,' says he, 'the oul' lad was alive. He'd be makin' hell's blazes for joy!' Och, he's cracked, that fella. I tell him many's the time it's in the asylum he should be, but sure, you might as well talk to the potstick as talk to him. He'll drive you to the station with a heart an' a han', and the capers of him when you both come back'll be like nothin' on God's earth!" "So long as he doesn't capsize us both into the ditch!..." "Him capsize you! I'd warm his lug for him if he dar'd to do such a thing!..." THE TWELFTH CHAPTER 1 He had been to the offices of Messrs. Kilworth and Kilworth in Kildare Street, and had seen Sir John Kilworth and settled as much of his business as could then be done. Now, wondering just what he should do next, he made his way to Stephen's Green and entered the Park, and while he was standing on the bridge over the lake, looking at the dark fish in the water, he felt a hand on his shoulder, and turning round, saw John Marsh. "I didn't know you were in Dublin," John said, holding out his hand. "I haven't been here very long," Henry answered, "and I'm going away again after Easter. I'm going to be married." "Married!"