n Mrs. Gregg was with his new plan.
He foresaw very serious difficulties in carrying it out.

"You've no one but yourself to thank for all this bother!" said the
Major. "There wasn't the slightest necessity to have Mary Ellen in the
affair at all, dressed or undressed."

Dr. O'Grady was not listening to a word the Major said. He was thinking
deeply. His face lightened suddenly and he rushed across the room to the
door.

"Mrs. Gregg!" he shouted. "Mrs. Gregg! Just one moment. I've got a
capital suggestion to make, one to which there can be no possible
objection from any point of view."

He ran downstairs. Father McCormack went to the door and looked after
him. Then he turned and addressed the Major.

"You might go a long journey," he said, "before you'd meet the equal of
the doctor."

The Major received this remark in silence. He was of opinion that a man
who went a long journey in order to discover a second Dr. O'Grady would
be a fool.

"Tell me this," said Father McCormack. "What relation is Mary Ellen to
the General?"

"I've never been able to make that out for certain. Sometimes I'm told
she's his niece, and sometimes his grand-niece."

Father McCormack looked round him cautiously and sank his voice to a
whisper.

"Is she any relation at all?" he said slowly.

"No more than you are to the Sultan of Turkey."

"I was thinking as much myself," said Father McCormack.

Dr. O'Grady, having finished his talk with Mrs. Gregg, entered the room
again.

"I've settled that matter satisfactorily anyhow," he said. "It occurred
to me just after Mrs. Gregg had left the room, that some sort of fancy
dress for the girl would be likely to please the Lord-Lieutenant, and
would be a compromise which both ladies could accept without loss of
dignity. Mary Ellen is to be rigged out as a traditional Irish colleen,
the sort you see on the picture postcards they sell to tourists in
Dublin. Mrs. Gregg is delighted, and Mrs. Ford can't possibly say that
a crimson flannel skirt won't be useful to her afterwards. She'll look
uncommonly well, and the Lord-Lieutenant will be all the more inclined
to believe that the General was an Irishman when he sees his niece----"

"Tell me this," said Father McCormack, "is she a niece of the General or
is she not?"

"The grand-niece," said Dr. O'Grady.

"She's neither the one nor the other," said the Major.

Dr. O'Grady glanced at Father McCormack. He saw by the look on the
priest's face