nt I was
awake, and heard the colloquy.

"''Tis truth I'm telling you, ma'am,' quoth my aunt, 'you'd think he was
mild as milk, and there isn't a name for the wickedness in him.'

"'When I was in the Buffs there was a fellow of the name of Clancy----'

"'Play a spade, captain,' said the priest, who had no common horror of
the story, he had heard every evening for twenty years.

"'And did he really put the kitten into the oven?' inquired Mrs. Brown.

"'Worse than that--he brought in Healy's buck goat yesterday, and set
him opposite the looking-glass, and the beast, thinking he saw another,
opposite him, bolted straightforward, and, my dear, he stuck his horns
through the middle of it. There isn't a piece as big as the ace of
diamonds.'"

"'When I was in the Buffs----

"''Tis at _say_ he ought to be--don't you think so, captain?' said the
priest----'them's trumps.'

"'I beg your pardon, Father Donellan, let me look at the trick. Well I'm
sure I pity you, Miss O'Kelly.'

"'And why wouldn't you! his mother had a bad drop in her, 'tis easy
seen. Sure Peter, that's gone, rest his soul in peace, he never harmed
man nor beast; but that child there, has notions of wickedness, that
would surprise you. My elegant cornelian necklace he's taken the stones
out of, till it nearly chokes me to put it on.'

"'When I was in the Buffs, Miss O'Kelly, there was----'

"'Pay fourpence,' said the priest pettishly, and cut the cards. As I was
saying, I'd send him to say, and if the stories be thrue, I hear, he's
not ill fitted for it; he does be the most of his time up there at the
caves of Ballybunnion, with the smugglers.'

"My aunt crimsoned a little at this, as I could see from my place on the
hearth rug: for it was only the day before, I had brought in a package
of green tea, obtained from the quarter alluded to.

"'I'd send him to Banagher to-morrow,' said he, resolutely; 'I'd send
him to school.'

"'There was one Clancy, I was saying, a great devil he was--'

"'And faix ould Martin will flog his tricks out of him, if birch will do
it,' said the priest.

"''Tis only a fortnight since he put hot cinders in the letterbox, and
burned half the Dublin bag,' said Mrs. Brown. 'The town will be well rid
of him.'

"This was exactly the notion I was coming to myself, though differing
widely as to the destination by which I was to manage my exchange out of
it. The kind wishes of the party towards me, too, had another effect--it