_Mrs. Delane:_ So he is, one Hyacinth Halvey; and indeed if all that is said of him is true, or if a quarter of it is true, he will be a credit to this town. _Mr. Quirke:_ Is that so? _Mrs. Delane:_ Testimonials he has by the score. To Father Gregan they were sent. Registered they were coming and going. Would you believe me telling you that they weighed up to three pounds? _Mr. Quirke:_ There must be great bulk in them indeed. _Mrs. Delane:_ It is no wonder he to get the job. He must have a great character so many persons to write for him as what there did. _Fardy:_ It would be a great thing to have a character like that. _Mrs. Delane:_ Indeed I am thinking it will be long before you will get the like of it, Fardy Farrell. _Fardy:_ If I had the like of that of a character it is not here carrying messages I would be. It’s in Noonan’s Hotel I would be, driving cars. _Mr. Quirke:_ Here is the priest’s housekeeper coming. _Mrs. Delane:_ So she is; and there is the Sergeant a little while after her. (_Enter Miss Joyce._) _Mrs. Delane:_ Good-evening to you, Miss Joyce. What way is his Reverence to-day? Did he get any ease from the cough? _Miss Joyce:_ He did not indeed, Mrs. Delane. He has it sticking to him yet. Smothering he is in the night time. The most thing he comes short in is the voice. _Mrs. Delane:_ I am sorry, now, to hear that. He should mind himself well. _Miss Joyce:_ It’s easy to say let him mind himself. What do you say to him going to the meeting to-night? (_Sergeant comes in._) It’s for his Reverence’s _Freeman_ I am come, Mrs. Delane. _Mrs. Delane:_ Here it is ready. I was just throwing an eye on it to see was there any news. Good-evening, Sergeant. _Sergeant:_ (_Holding up a placard._) I brought this notice, Mrs. Delane, the announcement of the meeting to be held to-night in the Courthouse. You might put it up here convenient to the window. I hope you are coming to it yourself? _Mrs. Delane:_ I will come, and welcome. I would do more than that for you, Sergeant. _Sergeant:_ And you, Mr. Quirke. _Mr. Quirke:_ I’ll come, to be sure. I forget what’s this the meeting is about. _Sergeant:_ The Department of Agriculture is sending round a lecturer in furtherance of the moral development of the rural classes. (_Reads._) “A lecture will be given this evening in Cloon Courthouse, illustrated by magic lantern slides—” Those will not be in it; I am informed they were all broken in the first journey, the railway company taking them to be eggs. The subject of the lecture is “The Building of Character.” _Mrs. Delane:_ Very nice, indeed. I knew a girl lost her character, and she washed her feet in a blessed well after, and it dried up on the minute.