ttentively. When the story was told he thrust his hand into his pocket
and brought forth some change.

"Hould yer han' out, ye black imp o' hell," he said to O'Hare. The sweep
obeyed, but remarked that the town clock had already struck twelve. "I
don't care a damn if it's thirteen!" he said. "That's fur bread, that's
fur tay, that's fur tobacco an' that's fur somethin' that runs down yer
throat like a rasp, _fur me_. Now don't let th' grass grow undther yer
flat feet, ye divil."

After some minor instructions from Anna, the sweep went off on his
midnight errand. The neighbors were sent home. The kettle replaced the
pot on the chain, and we gathered full of ecstasy close to the fire.

"Whisht!" Anna said. We listened. Above the roar of the wind and the
rattling of the casement we heard a loud noise.

"It's Billy thunderin' at Marget Hurll's doore," Jamie said.

O'Hare arrived with a bang! He put his bundles down on the table and
vigorously swung his arms like flails around him to thaw himself out.
Anna arranged the table and prepared the meal. Billy and Jamie went at
the tobacco. Boyle took the whiskey and said:

"I thank my God an' the holy angels that I'm in th' house ov timperance
payple!" Then looking at Jamie, he said:

"Here's t' ye, Jamie, an' ye, Anna, an' th' scoundthrel O'Hare, an'
here's t' th' three that niver bred, th' priest, th' pope, an' th'
mule!"

Then at a draft he emptied the bottle and threw it behind the fire,
grunting his satisfaction.

"Wudn't that make a corpse turn 'round in his coffin?" Billy said.

"Keep yer eye on that loaf, Billy, or he'll be dhrinkin' our health in
it!" Jamie remarked humorously.

Boyle stretched himself on the floor and yawned. The little table was
brought near the fire, the loaf was cut in slices and divided. It was a
scene that brought us to the edge of tears--tears of joy. Anna's face
particularly beamed. She talked as she prepared, and her talk was of
God's appearance at the end of every tether, and of the silver lining on
the edge of every cloud. She had a penchant for mottoes, but she never
used them in a siege. It was when the siege was broken she poured them
in and they found a welcome. As she spoke of God bringing relief, Boyle
got up on his haunches.

"Anna," he said, "if aanybody brot me here th' night it was th' oul
divil in hell."

"'Deed yer mistaken, Felix," she answered sweetly. "When God sends a
maan aanywhere he always gets there, even if