They accordingly passed into another room, where they remained in close conference for about a quarter of an hour, after which they re-entered in the highest spirits. “Come,” said Denis, “Pether, go over, _abouchal_, to Andy Bradagh's for Larry Cassidy the piper--fly like a swallow, Pether, an' don't come without him. Mave, achora, all's right. Susy, you darlin', dhry your eyes, avourneen, all's right. Nabors, friends--fill, fill--I say all's right still. My son's not disgraced, nor he won't be disgraced whilst I have a house over my head, or a beast in my stable. Docthor, reverend Docthor, drink; may I never sin, but you must get merry an' dance a 'cut-along' wid myself, when the music comes, and you must thrip the priest in his boots wid Susy here afther. Excuse me, nabors--Docthor, you won't blame me, there's both joy and sorrow in these tears. I have had a good family of childhre, an' a faithful wife; an' Mave, achora, although time has laid his mark upon you as well as upon myself, and the locks are gray that wor once as black as a raven: yet, Mave, I seen the day, an' there's many livin' to prove it--ay, Mave, I seen the day when you wor worth lookin' at--the wild rose of Lisbuie she was called, Docthor. Well, Mave, I hope that my eyes may be closed by the hands I loved an' love so well--an' that's your own, _agrab machree_, an' Denis's.” “Whisht, Denis asthore,” said Mave, wiping her eyes, “I hope I'll never see that day. Afther seein' Denis here, what we all hope him to be, the next thing I wish is, that I may never live to see my husband taken away from me, acushla; no, I hope God will take me to himself before that comes.” There is something touching in the burst of pathetic affection which springs strongly from the heart of a worthy couple, when, seated among their own family, the feelings of the husband and father, the wife and mother, overpower them. In this case, the feeling is always deep in proportion to the strength and purity of domestic affection; still it is checked by the melancholy satisfaction that our place is to be filled by those who are dear to us. “But now,” said the priest, “that the scent lies still warm, let me ask you, Dionysius, how the Bishop came to understand the compactum?” “I really cannot undertake to say,” replied Denis; “but if any man has an eye like a _basileus_ he has. On finding, sir, that there was some defect in my responsive powers, he looked keenly at me, closing his piercing-eyes a little, and inquired upon what ground I had presented myself as a candidate. I would have sunk the compactum altogether, but for the eye. I suspended and hesitated a little, and at length told him that there was an understanding--a--a--kind of--in short, he squeezed the whole secret out o' me gradationally. You know the result!” “Ah, Dionysius, you are yet an unfledged bird; but it matters little. All will be rectified soon.”