“You very well might be,” said Dr. O’Grady, “Anyone would think we intended her to appear in a ballet skirt after that remark of the Major’s about her garters.” “All I was thinking,” said Father McCormack, “was that if you dressed the girl up in that style she’ll never be contented again with ordinary clothes.” “I’d be opposed, so I would,” said Gallagher, “to anything that wouldn’t be respectable in the case of Mary Ellen. Her mother was a cousin of my own, and I’ve a feeling for the girl. So if you or any other one, Doctor, is planning contrivances——” “Oh, don’t be ridiculous, Thady,” said Dr. O’Grady. “I tell you she’ll be all right. Now, Doyle, will you read us that letter from your nephew? If we don’t get on with our business we’ll be here all night.” CHAPTER XV “I can’t find the letter high or low,” said Doyle. “Maybe now,” said Father McCormack, “it’s not in your pocket at all.” “It should be,” said Doyle, “for it was there I put it after showing it to the doctor here yesterday.” “It doesn’t matter,” said Dr. O’Grady, “you can tell us what he said in your own words.” “What I told my nephew,” said Doyle, “when I was writing to him, was that the committee was a bit pressed in the matter of time, owing to next Thursday week being the only day that it was convenient for the Lord-Lieutenant to attend for the opening of the statue. Well, gentlemen, by the height of good luck it just happens that my nephew has a statue on hand which he thinks would do us.” “He has what?” said the Major. “A statue that has been left on his hands,” said Doyle. “The way of it was this. It was ordered by the relatives of a deceased gentleman, and it was to have been put up in St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin.” “That shows,” said Dr. O’Grady, “that it’s a first rate statue. They wouldn’t let you put up anything second rate in a cathedral like that.” “It must be a good one, surely,” said Father McCormack. “But when the relatives of the deceased party went into his affairs,” said Doyle, “they found he hadn’t died near as well off as they thought he was going to; so they told my nephew that they wouldn’t take the statue and couldn’t pay for it. It was pretty near finished at the time, and what my nephew says is that he could make sure of having it ready for us by the end of this week at the latest.” “Look here, O’Grady,” said the Major, “I’m as fond of a joke as any man; but I must draw the line somewhere. I’m hanged if I’ll be mixed up in any way with a second-hand statue.” “It’s not second-hand,” said Dr. O’Grady, “it’s perfectly new. At this moment it isn’t even finished; I wouldn’t ask this committee to buy anything second hand. But you can surely see, Major—you do see, for you raised the point yourself, that with the very short time at our disposal we must, if we are to have a statue at all, get one that’s more or less ready made.”