“It could be,” he said, “that them chops would be ready for you now, and if you’ll tell the girl what it is you’d like to drink——” “When I’ve finished my lunch,” said Mr. Billing, “I’d like to take a stroll round this section. There are some things I want to see. Perhaps Mr. Gallagher will come with me, if he can spare the time.” “Thady Gallagher will be pleased,” said Doyle. “And as for sparing the time, he has plenty of that. You’ll go with the gentleman, won’t you, Thady?” “I will, of course,” said Gallagher. “And there’s no man knows the neighbourhood better,” said Doyle. “There isn’t one in it, man, woman, or child, that he isn’t acquainted with, and anything there might be to tell about their fathers or mothers before them, Thady Gallagher is well fit to tell it to you.”. “What I’d like to be shown first,” said Mr. Billing, “is the statue to the memory of General John Regan.” Doyle looked at Gallagher doubtfully. Gallagher edged away a little. He seemed inclined to take shelter again behind Doyle. “The statue?” said Doyle. “Statue or other memorial,” said Mr. Billing. “With regard to the statue——” said Doyle slowly. Then he turned round and caught Gallagher by the arm. “Speak up, Thady Gallagher,” he said, “and tell the gentleman about the statue.” “With reference to the statue——” said Gallagher. “Yes,” said Mr. Billing encouragingly, “the statue to General John Regan.” “With reference to the statue of the deceased general,” said Gallagher. “What he’s wanting to say,” said Doyle, “is that at the present time there’s no statue to the General, not in Ballymoy, anyway.” “You surprise me some,” said Mr. Billing. “It’s what there ought to be,” said Doyle, “and that’s a fact.” “Is Ballymoy such a nursery of heroes,” said Mr. Billing, “that you can afford to neglect the memory of the great General, the patriot statesman, the deliverer of Bolivia?” “Speak up, Thady,” said Doyle, “and tell the gentleman why there’s no statue to the General in Ballymoy.” Gallagher cleared his throat and began to speak. At first his words came to him slowly; but as he warmed to his subject he became fluent and even eloquent. “It’s on account of the way we find ourselves situated in this country at the present time,” he said. “It’s not the hearts of the people that’s at fault. There isn’t one, not the poorest man among us, that wouldn’t be willing to do honour to the memory of the great men of the past that died on the scaffold in defence of the liberty of the people. It’s the cursed system of Castle Government and the tyranny of the landlords, and the way the people is driven off their farms by the rack-renting flunkeys of the rent office. How is the country to prosper, and how is statues to be erected to them that deserve statues, so long as the people isn’t able to call their souls their own? But, glory be to God, it won’t be so for long! We have Home Rule as good as got, and when we have it——”