“Here, sir,” said she, “here’s the pipe; his tooth-ache’s _greatly_ better. Well, now, to be sure, tibbacky is a fine thing. Myself takes a sly puff now and again, to comfort me; can you tell me, sir, where it grows? I heard it grew up in Ulster?” “O, not at all ma’am, but in _Americky_, ma’am, where there’s plenty av land idle, and wantin’ occypation; and, faix, indeed, ma’am, that’s not the way here, when we’re a’most starved, and it’s so scarce, and wonderful dear; sit down here, if you plaze, ma’am, and I’ll tell you all about _my own_ land, and how I lost it, and the hobble I’m in. Will we put down some turf, and make a good rousin’ fire?” “O, yeh, no, sir!” getting frightened about the cake, “we’d never get to bed if we’d a good fire.” “Well, then, never mind, ma’am. You see, about my farm. I was tellin’ you, ma’am, my farm (puff) was just like _that_,” pointing to the ashes smoothed down quite flat over the _cake_; “well, my farm was quite smooth, and level, and flat, just like _that_; but if it was, ma’am, my second brother, Pat, ma’am, (p-p-f-f-f)—here, ma’am, here’s the pipe for you, and smoke for a bit.” “Thank’e, sir. Well! well, what about your brother Pat?” “O, I’ll tell you. My second brother, Pat, ma’am, went to a blackguard ’torney, and got _an advice_, and found out that he’d as good a right to the farm as I had myself; and he went to law with me, and he bate me, ma’am; and then it was all left to arbitration, ma’am, and,” said Mehicle, taking a piece of broken scythe in his hand, as if to illustrate his description, “the rascals were bribed, I’m sure; but, however, they made me divide the land into two halves, just now as I might divide _this_,” making a desperate cut across the ashes, and, of course, through the centre of the cake. “O, dear, sir! _that_ was _terrible_,” said she. “I _hope_ they didn’t do _any more_ to your land?” “O, yes; that was _nothing_, ma’am. The next brother, Terry, then, ma’am, says, says he, ‘Why hasn’t myself as good a right as them two?’ says he. ‘I’ll go to law,’ says he; and so _he_ went to law, and we did our best, but he bate us, and it was left to arbitration; and then we had to divide our land somehow _so_,” cutting across again, “or, stop, I’m wrong, there was more of a corner cut off than that—it was more like _this_;” another sliver, “and there was a wall running across, as it might be _so_;” and here followed another slice; by this time, too, the cake was pretty well minced. “O, dear, dear!” said she, “it must have been _spylte entirely_ for you, then, sir;” said she, thinking of the cake.