side-whiskered, precise and
grey, disguising himself with mufflers and a squash hat, and stalking
with sombre fortitude the erratic wanderings of a pair of young
featherheads, is one which mirth may be pleased to linger upon. Such a
spectacle was now to be observed in the semi-rural outskirts of
Clontarf. Mr. MacMahon tracked his daughter with considerable stealth,
adopting unconsciously the elongated and nervous stride of a theatrical
villain. He saw her meet a young man wearing a broad-brimmed hat,
whose clothing was mysteriously theatrical, and whose general shape,
when it could be glimpsed, was oddly familiar.

"I have seen that fellow somewhere," said he.

The lovers met and kissed, and the glaring father spoke rapidly but
softly to himself for a few moments. He was not accustomed to walking,
and it appeared as if these two intended to walk for ever, but he kept
them in sight, and when the time came for parting he was close at hand.

The parting was prolonged, and renewed, and rehearsed again with
amendments and additions: he could not have believed that saying
good-bye to a person could be turned into so complicated and symbolic a
ceremony: but, at last, his daughter, with many a backward look and
wave of hand, departed in one direction, and the gentleman, after
similar signals, moved towards the tramway.

"I know that fellow, whoever he is," said Mr. MacMahon.

Passing a lamp-post, Mr. Aloysius Murphy stayed for a moment to light
his pipe, and Mr. MacMahon stared, he ground his teeth, he foamed at
the mouth, and his already prominent eyes bulged still further and
rounder--

"Well, I'm----!" said he.

He turned and walked homewards slowly, murmuring often to himself and
to the night, "All right! wait, though! Hum! Ha! Gr-r-r-up!"

That night he repeatedly entreated his wife "not to be a fool, Jane,"
and she as repeatedly replied, "Yes, dear." Long after midnight he
awoke her by roaring violently from the very interior depths of a
dream, "Cheek of the fellow! Pup! Gr-r-r-up!"

At breakfast on the following morning he suggested to his wife and
elder daughter that they should visit his office later on in the day--

"You have never seen it, Nora," said he, "and you ought to have a look
at the den where your poor old daddy spends his time grinding dress
material for his family from the faces of the poor. I've got some
funny clerks, too: one of them is a curiosity." Here, growing suddenly
furious, he gave an