s I have
had me full share."

"Sir Tom," said I, "shall I send for a priest?"

"A priest! What could I do with a priest? Me forebears were on the
Orange side of Boyne Water, and we have never changed color."

"Would you like to see a clergyman?"

"No, no; just the grip of a friend's hand and these angels around me.
Asking pardon is not me long suit, Williams, but perhaps the time has
come for me to play it. If the good God will be kind to me I will thank
Him, as a gentleman should, and I will take no advantage of His
kindness; but if He cannot see His way clear to do that, I will take
what is coming."

"Dear Sir Tom," said Jane, with streaming eyes, "God cannot be hard with
you, who have been so good to every one."

"If there's little harm in me life, there's but scant good, too; I can't
find much credit. Me good angel has had an easy time of it, more's the
pity; but Janie, if you love me, Le Bon Dieu will not be hard on me. He
cannot be severe with a poor Irishman who never stacked the cards,
pulled a race, or turned his back on a friend, and who is loved by an
angel."

I asked Sir Tom what we should do for him after he had passed away.

"It would be foine to sleep in the woods just back of Janie's forge,
where I could hear the click of her hammer if the days get lonely; but
there's a little castle, God save the mark, out from Sligo. Me forebears
are there,--the lucky ones,--and me wish is to sleep with them; but I
doubt it can be."

"Indeed it can be, and it shall be, too," said Polly. "We will all go
with you, Sir Tom, when June comes, and you shall sleep in your own
ground with your own kin."

"I don't deserve it, Mrs. Williams, indeed I don't, but I would lie
easier there. That sod has known us for a thousand years, and it's the
greenest, softest, kindest sod in all the world; but little I'll mind
when the breath is gone. I'll not be asking that much of you."

"My dear old chap, we won't lose sight of you until that green sod
covers the stanchest heart that ever beat. Polly is right. We'll go with
you to Sligo,--all of us,--Polly and Jane and Jack and I, and Kate and
the babies, too, if we can get them. You shall not be lonesome."

"Lonesome, is it? I'll be in the best of company. Me heart is at rest
from this moment, and I'll wait patiently until I can show you Sligo.
This is a fine country, Mrs. Williams, and it has given me the truest
friends in all the world, but the ground is sweet in Sligo."