hat will shame the sun. The tar-barrels shall blaze, and the
beer-barrels shall run to celebrate your appearance amongst us. Come,
Charley, let us go to Rathfillan, and get the townsfolk to prepare
for the fete: we must have fiddlers and pipers, and plenty of dancing.
Barney Casey must go among the tenants, too, and order them all into the
town. Mat Mulcahy, the inn-keeper, must give us his best room; and, my
life to yours, we will have a pleasant night of it."

"George," exclaimed his wife, in a tone of querulous remonstrance, "you
know how expensive--"

"Confound the expense and your penury both," exclaimed her husband;
"is it to your own son, on his return to us after such an absence, that
you'd grudge the expense of a blazing bonfire?"

"Not the bonfire," replied his wife, but--"

"Ay, but the cost of drink to the tenants. Why, upon my soul, Harry,
your mother is anything but popular here, you must know; and I think
if it were not from respect to me and the rest of the family she'd
be indicted for a witch. Gadzooks, Jenny, will I never get sense
or liberality into your head? Ay, and if you go on after your usual
fashion, it is not unlikely that you may have a tar-barrel of your own
before long. Go, you and Harry, and tell your secrets to each other
while we prepare for the jubilation. In the meantime, we must get up an
extempore dinner to-day--the set dinner will come in due time, and be a
different affair; but at all events some of the neighbors we must have
to join us in the jovialities--hurroo!"

"Well, George," said she, with her own peculiar smile, "I see you are in
one of your moods to-day."

"Ay, right enough, the imperative one, my dear."

"And, so far as I am concerned, it would not certainly become me to
stand in the way of any honor bestowed upon my son Harry; so I perceive
you must only have it your own way--I consent."

"I don't care a fig whether you do or not. When matters come to a push,
I am always master of my own house, and ever will be so--and you know
it. Good-by, Harry, we will be back in time for dinner, with as many
friends as we can pick up on so short notice--hurroo!"

He and Charles accordingly went forth to make the necessary
preparations, and give due notice of the bonfire, after which they
succeeded in securing the attendance of about a dozen guests to partake
of the festivity.

Barney, in the meantime, having received his orders for collecting,
or, as it was then called, wa