e wall opposite the
fireplace, and Barry remained for a minute, thinking how he'd open the
campaign. At last he began:

"Anty, look you here, now. What scheme have you got in your
head?--You'd better let me know, at once."

"What schame, Barry?"

"Well--what schame, if you like that better."

"I've no schame in my head, that I know of--at laist--" and then Anty
blushed. It would evidently be easy enough to make the poor girl tell
her own secret.

"Well, go on--at laist--"

"I don't know what you mane, Barry. Av' you're going to be badgering me
again, I'll go away."

"It's evident you're going to do something you're ashamed of, when
you're afraid to sit still, and answer a common question. But you must
answer me. I'm your brother, and have a right to know. What's this
you're going to do?' He didn't like to ask her at once whether she was
going to get married. It might not be true, and then he would only be
putting the idea into her head. 'Well,--why don't you answer me? What
is it you're going to do?"

"Is it about the property you mane, Barry?"

"What a d----d hypocrite you are! As if you didn't know what I mean!
As for the property, I tell you there'll be little left the way you're
going on. And as to that, I'll tell you what I'm going to do; so, mind,
I warn you beforehand. You're not able--that is, you're too foolish and
weak-headed to manage it yourself; and I mean, as your guardian, to put
it into the hands of those that shall manage it for you. I'm not going
to see you robbed and duped, and myself destroyed by such fellows as
Moylan, and a crew of huxtering blackguards down in Dunmore. And now,
tell me at once, what's this I hear about you and the Kellys?"

"What Kellys?" said Anty, blushing deeply, and half beside herself with
fear--for Barry's face was very red, and full of fierce anger, and his
rough words frightened her.

"What Kellys! Did you ever hear of Martin Kelly? d----d young robber
that he is!" Anty blushed still deeper--rose a little way from the
sofa, and then sat down again. "Look you here, Anty--I'll have the
truth out of you. I'm not going to be bamboozled by such an idiot as
you. You got an old man, when he was dying, to make a will that has
robbed me of what was my own, and now you think you'll play your own
low game; but you're mistaken! You've lived long enough without a
husband to do without one now; and I can tell you I'm not going to see
my property carried off by such a low,