The Tithe-Proctor: The Works of William Carleton, Volume Two — John Shaqi
The Tithe-Proctor: The Works of William Carleton, Volume TwoCarleton, William
General
The Tithe-Proctor: The Works of William Carleton, Volume Two
Carleton, William
Ireland -- Social life and customs -- Fiction
The situation in which the parties stood, during this dialogue, was at
the rear of the premises into which the proctor's office opened, and
where the country people were always desired to wait. They stood at the
end of the stable, adjoining a wall almost eight feet high, on the
other side of which was the pig-sty. Here, whilst the conversation just
detailed went forward, stood a pretty, plump-looking, country-girl,
one of the female servants of the proctor's establishment, named Letty
Lenehan. She had come to feed the pigs, just in time to catch the
greater portion of their conversation; and, as she possessed a tolerably
clear insight into Mogue's character, she was by no means ignorant
of certain illusions made in it, although she unquestionably did not
comprehend its full drift. We have said that this girl understood his
character very well, and scarcely any one had a better right or greater
opportunities of doing so. Mogue, in fact, was in love with her, or
at least, pretended to be so; but, whether he was or not, one thing we
write as certain, that he most implicitly believed her to be so
with himself. Letty was a well-tempered, faithful girl, honest and
conscientious, but not without a considerable relish for humor, and with
more than ordinary talents for carrying on either a practical joke or
any other piece of harmless humbug, a faculty in which she was ably
supported by a fellow-servant of a very different description from
Mogue, named Jerry Joyce. Joyce, in fact, was not merely a strong
contrast to Mogue, but his very reverse in almost every point of his
character. He was open and artless in the opinion of many, almost to
folly; but, under this apparent thoughtlessness, there existed a fund of
good sense, excellent feeling, and quickness of penetration, for which
the world gave him no credit, or at least but very little.
Jerry and Letty, therefore, between whom a real affection subsisted,
were in the habit of amusing themselves, whenever they could do so
without discovery, at Mogue's expense. Such, then, was the relative
position of these parties at the present stage of our narrative.
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