"Now, it was that mornin’ that owld Rooney was in town, thryin’ to sell a goat he had, that gev him no end o’ throuble be losin’ itself part of the time an’ the rest be jumpin’ on the thatch an’ stickin’ its feet through. But he cudn’t sell it, as ivery wan knew the baste as well as himself, an’ so he was sober, that wasn’t common wid him. Whin he seen the widdys an’ the other wimmin wid thim shtravigerin’ through the strate on the way to the coort an’ heard the phillaloo they were afther makin’, he axed phat the matther was. So they towld him, an’ says he, ’Be the powers, if it’s a question av makin’ him marry some wan, me dawther has an inthrust in the matther,’ so he dhropped the goat’s shtring an’ shtarted home in a lamplighter’s throt to fetch her, an’ got there about the time the polisman nabbed Dooley. "’There, they’re afther goin’ now,’ says he to her. ’Make haste, or we’ll lose thim,’ an’ aff they run, she wid her charm an’ he widout his coat, grippin’ a shillalee in his fisht, an’ caught up wid Paddy that was follerin’ the polisman an’ Dooley. "So they jogged along, comfortable enough, the polisman an’ Dooley in the lade, afther thim owld Rooney an’ Paddy, blaggârdin’ the consthable ivery fut o’ the way, an’ offerin’ fur to bate him so as he wouldn’t know himself be lookin’ in the glass, an’ Miss Rooney in the rare, wondherin’ if the charm ’ud work right. But Dooley didn’t let a word out av his jaw, as knowin’ he’d nade all his breath afther gettin’ into the coort. "At the rise o’ the hill the pursesshun was met be about a hunderd o’ the town boys that come out fur to view thim, an’ that yelled at Dooley how the widdys were waitin’ to tare him in paces, an’ that he was as good as a dead man a’ready, so he was; an’ whin they got into town, all the men jined the show, roarin’ wid laughter an’ shoutin’ at Dooley that the judge cudn’t do anny more than hang him at wanst, an’ to shtand it like a hayro, bekase they’d all be at the hangin’ an’ come to the wake besides an’ have a tundherin’ big time. But he answered thim niver a word, so they all wint on to the coort, an’ in, bringin’ the other half o’ the town wid ’em, the faymale half bein’ there kapin’ comp’ny wid the widdys. "The minnit they come nie the dure, all the widdys an’ wimmin begun in wan breath to make raimarks on thim. "’A-a-a-ah, the hang-dog face he has,’ says Missis McMurthry. ’Sure hasn’t he the look av a shape-thief on the road to the gallus?’ "’See the haythen vagabone,’ says the Widdy Mulligan. ’If I had me tin fingers on him for five minnits, it’s all the satiswhackshun I’d ax. Bad cess to the hair I’d lave on the head av him or in his whushkers aither.’ "But the Widdy O’Donnell only cried, an’ all the wimmin turned their noses up whin they seen Miss Rooney comin’ in. [Illustration: "OULD ROONEY AN’ PADDY BLAGGARDIN’ THE CONSTHABLE IVERY FUT O’ THE WAY."] "OULD ROONEY AN’ PADDY BLAGGARDIN’ THE CONSTHABLE IVERY FUT O’ THE WAY."