; now hand me the wather, like an angel out of heaven, as you are,
Bid. Ah, glory be to goodness, but that's refreshin', especially afther
sich a day--sich a day! O saints above, look down upon us poor sinners,
one and all, men and women, wid pity and compassion this night! Here;
I'm very wake; let me get to bed; is there any pump wather in the
kitchen?"

To describe the pitch to which he had them wound up would be utterly
impossible. He sat in the cook's arm-chair, leaning a little back,
his feet placed upon the fender, and his eyes, as before, immovably,
painfully, and abstractedly fixed upon the embers. He was now the centre
of a circle, for they were all crowded about him, wrapped up to the
highest possible pitch of curiosity.

"We were talkin' about Masther Harry," said he, "the other night, and I
think I tould you something about him; it's like a dhrame to me that I
did."

"You did, indeed, Barney," said the cook, coaxingly, "and I hope that
what you tould us wasn't true."

"Aye, but about to-day, Barney; somthin' has happened to-day that's
troublin' you."

"Who is it said that?" said he, his eyes now closed, as if he were
wrapped up in some distressing mystery. "Was it you, Nanse? It's like
your voice, achora."

Now, the reader must know that a deadly jealousy lay between Nanse and
the cook, _quoad_ honest Barney, who, being aware of the fact, kept
the hopes and fears of each in such an exact state of equilibrium,
that neither of them could, for the life of her, claim the slightest
advantage over the other. The droll varlet had an appetite like a shark,
and a strong relish for drink besides, and what between precious
tidbits from the cook and borrowing small sums for liquor from Nanse, he
contrived to play them off one against the other with great tact.

"I think," said he, his eyes still closed, "that that is Nanse's voice;
is it, acushla?"

"It is, Barney, achora," replied Nanse; "but there's something wrong wid
you."

"I wish to goodness, Nanse, you'd let the boy alone," said the cook;
"when he chooses to spake, he'll spake to them that can undherstand
him."

"O, jaminy stars! that's you, I suppose; ha, ha, ha."

"Keep silence," said Barney, "and listen. Nanse, you are right in one
sinse, and the cook's right in another; you're both right, but at
the present spakin' you're both wrong. Listen--you all know the
_Shan-dhinne-dhuv?_"

"Know him! The Lord stand between us and him," replied Nanse; "