"Well, you see he comes up and plays the melodion on Saturday night," said Ned, "and she can't stop him from doing that." "Then you think," said the priest, "that Pat will marry your sister?" "I don't think she wants to marry him." "If she doesn't want to marry him, what's all this talk about?" "She likes to meet Pat in the evenings and go for a walk with him, and she likes him to put his arm round her waist and kiss her, saving your reverence's pardon." "It is strange that you should be so unlike. You come here and ask me to speak to Mary Byrne's parents for you, and that I'll do, Ned, and it will be all right. You will make a good husband, and though you were drunk last night, you have taken the pledge to-day, and I will make a good marriage for Kate, too, if she'll listen to me." "And who may your reverence be thinking of?" "I'm thinking of Peter M'Shane. He gets as much as six shillings a week and his keep on Murphy's farm, and his mother has got a bit of money, and they have a nice, clean cabin. Now listen to me. There is a poultry lecture at the school-house to-night. Do you think you could bring your sister with you?" "We used to keep a great many hens at home, and Kate had the feeding of them, and now she's turned agin them, and she wants to live in town, and she even tells Pat Connex she would not marry a farmer, however much he was worth." "But if you tell her that Pat Connex will be at the lecture will she come?" "Yes, your reverence, if she believes me." "Then do as I bid you," said the priest; "you can tell her that Pat Connex will be there." II After leaving the priest Ned crossed over the road to avoid the public-house. He went for a walk on the hills, and it was about five when he turned towards the village. On his way there he met his father, and Ned told him that he had been to see the priest, and that he was going to take Mary to the lecture. Michael Kavanagh wished his son God-speed. He was very tired; and he thought it was pretty hard to come home after a long day's work to find his wife and daughter quarrelling. "I am sorry your dinner is not ready, father, but it won't be long now. I'll cut the bacon." "I met Ned on the road," said her father. "He has gone to fetch Mary. He is going to take her to the lecture on poultry-keeping at the school-house." "Ah, he has been to the priest, has he?" said Kate, and her mother asked her why she said that, and the wrangle began again. Ned was the peacemaker; there was generally quiet in the cabin when he was there. He came in with Mary, a small, fair girl, and a good girl, who would keep his cabin tidy. His mother and sisters were broad-shouldered women with blue-black hair and red cheeks, and it was said that he had said he would like to bring a little fair hair into the family. "We've just come in for a minute," said Mary. "Ned said that perhaps you'd be coming with us."