"'Well, dear, I niver takes sass from anny av 'em, so I ups an' tould her, 'Sorra taste av wurk I'll do the day, an' av yer don't like it, yer can fin' some wan else,' an' I flounced mesel' out av the boodoore.' "Well, I wint to me room ter dress mesel,' an' whin I got on me sale-shkin sack, I thought av me poor ould mother--may the hivins be her bed!--could only see me, how kilt she'd be intoirely. Whin I was dressed I wint down-stairs, an' out the front doore, an' I tell yer _I slammed it well after me_. "Well, me dear, whin I got ter the majum's, a big chap wid long hair and a baird like a billy-goat kem inter the room. Sez he:-- "'Do yer want to see the majum?' "'I do,' sez I. "'Two dollars,' sez he. "'For what?' says I. "'For the sayants,' sez he. "'Faix, it's no aunts I want to see,' sez I, 'but Luke Corrigan's own self.' Well, me dear, wid that he gev a laugh ye'd think'd riz the roof. "'Is he yer husban'?' sez he. "'It's mighty 'quisitive ye are,' sez I, 'but he's not me husban', av yer want ter know, but I want ter larn av it's alive or dead he is, which the Lord forbid!' "'Yer jist in the nick er time,' sez he. "'Faix, Ould Nick's here all the time, I'm thinkin', from what I hear,' sez I. "Well, ter make a long story short, I ped me two dollars, an' wint into another room, an' if ye'd guess from now till Aisther, ye'd never think what the majum was. As I'm standin' here, 'twas _nothin' but a woman_! I was that bet, I was a'most spacheless. "'Be sated, madam,' sez she, p'ntin' to a chair, an' I seed at wanst that she was a very shuperior sort o' person. 'Be sated,' sez she. 'Yer mus' jine the circle.' "'Faix, I'll ate a thriangle, av yer wish,' sez I. "'Yer mus' be very quite,' sez she. An' so I sot down along a lot av other folks at a table. "'First, I'll sing a him,' sez the majum, 'an' thin do all yees jine in the chorus.' "'Yer mus' axcuse me, ma'am,' sez I. 'I niver could sing, but rather than spile the divarshun o' the company, av any wan'll whistle, I'll dance as purty a jig as ye'll see from here to Bal'nasloe, though it's mesel' as sez it.' "Two young whipper-snappers begin ter laugh, but the luk I gev' em soon shut 'em up. "Jist then, the big chap as had me two dollars kem into the room an' turned down the lights; in a minit majum, shtickin' her face close to me own, whispers: "'The sperrits is about--I kin feel 'em!' "'Thrue for you, ma'am,' sez I, 'fur I kin smell 'em!' "'Hush, the in_flu_ence is an me,' sez the majum. 'I kin see the lion an' the lamb lying down together.' "'Begorra! It's like a wild beastess show,' sez I. "'Will yer be quite?' sez an ould chap nex' ter me. 'I hev a question to ax.' "'Ax yer question,' say I, 'an' I'll ax mine. I ped me two dollars, an' I'll not be put down.' "'Plaze be quite,' sez the majum, 'or the sperrits 'll lave.' "Jist then kem a rap on the table. "'Is that the sperrit of Luke Corrigan?' sez the majum.